The trip to Paris
by CutieZofia
Summary: Stephanie is going on a week long vacation to Paris, alone. One week later Ranger gets a call from a hospital in Paris. Why wont Stephanie talk about what happened? Babe story, please read & review! This is my first FF, M-content coming in later chapters!
1. Chapter 1

_**Stephanies POV**_

I was totally excited over this vacation, since I've always loved France and this time I got to go by myself. I had been to France three times, but always with either my parents or my sister. This time Ranger had suggested that he'd like to come with me, but I had stand my ground and refused. This was my vacation and nobody could ruin that for me, not that I thought that Ranger would do that it was just that I could never concentrate with him in the same room. And that was precisely what had happened yesterday.

**Flash back start**

I had packed the night before and was brushing my teeth when Ranger decided to show up. With my back to the door, deep in thought he scared the beejeezuz out of me by placing his hand on my shoulder.

"Christ, Ranger! Stop doing that!"

"You got to be more aware of your surroundings, babe" he said with that little annoying smirk he has EVERY time he scares me.

He moved his hands to my abdomen and hugged me from behind. I felt the usual burning down there and blushed furiously with my toothbrush still in my mouth. I wasn't quite sure what to do next. The urge to turn around and kiss him was strong but not strong enough for me to do that. My hair was totally messed up and I was feeling as un-sexy a woman can feel. And I still had my tooth brush in my mouth, and that would cause some problems too. I felt him shaking and soon enough came the laughter.

"What are you laughing at?" I snapped at him.

That caused more laughter and he had to let go of me because he was bent over in laughter. I still couldn't see what was so damn funny and I was becoming more and more angry with every moment that passed. I hated when he laughed at me. Luckily he was in the hallway and I was in the bathroom so I made the decision to slam the door shut and lock it. SLAM! The laughter died at the other side of the door.

"Babe?" I could still hear some contained laughter in his voice so I didn't answer. I marched over to the toilet seat and sat down. I crossed my arms and waited.

"Babe, talk to me" he pleaded through the door.

"I don't want to talk to you so please leave. And don't you dare to pick the lock on the door"

"Stephenie, please, I didn't mean to laugh at you but you look so damn cute when you think hard. You were so focused that you didn't notice that your toothbrush fell out."

Shit, he was right! I hadn't noticed that my toothbrush was on the floor by the door and my cheek was covered in foam. I was so embarrassed that I had to fight the urge to cry. Dammit, why was it always he who saw me when I did these stupid things? Why God, why? I quickly wiped the foam of my cheek.

"I'm going to be here all night if I have to, but sooner or later you'll have to come out of the bathroom." he said. Then I heard him sit down by the door. God, he was annoying, couldn't he see that I wanted to be alone at this time. Fine, two can play this game. I eyed the bathroom window and remembered that due to the renovation of the house there were these things the construction men used. You know those things they walk on? Also due to the renovation thing, we all had to open the bathroom windows so they could paint without painting the windows shut, This was my chance to teach him a lesson. As silently as I could I made my way towards the window. The window was above the shower, made out of tinted glass and to my relief, open. I figured I could crawl through it so I lunged for the window.

The good news were that I had reached the window and were now half way through, the bad was that I had made a lot of noise when I by mistake kicked the shelf with the shampoos and soaps. Now I had to hurry because there were no way that -ass bounty hunter hadn't heard that.

"Babe?" I heard through the door. "That's it, I'm coming in!"

Be my guest I thought as I was already outside. I had to fight the urge to giggle as I ran towards the ladders. I heard the sound of a door being kicked down and him swearing. A small giggle escaped through my lips as I landed on the ground. By the time I was running to my car I was flat out laughing. I took the spear key to the car from underneath the car door and unlocked the doors and jumped in. Quickly I locked the doors and just as I locked the final door I saw him standing by my car and trying to open one door. As I couldn't hold it in anymore:

"Haven't you always said that I should always lock the doors?"

The look he gave me made me laugh even more.

**Flash back end**

Yes, maybe I was acting a little crazy and stupid yesterday but I think that was just my nervousness kickin' through. This was after all my first Europe-vacation without any familiar faces. My dreaming was cut of by a text message. It was from Ranger. He hadn't said anything last night and had left so I could finish my packing. I was grateful of that but a little part of me was disappointed that he didn't put more effort in the "hunt". I shook the feeling away and read the message.

"Proud of you babe! Have a nice vacation, can't wait until you get back so I can get even with you. 3"

I was not looking forward to that, I can assure you that. Well, maybe a little if I must be honest. Most of Rangers revenges involved a lot of nudity. I couldn't decide which one was better; to look forwards to it or not.

"Flight AF023 to Paris is now boarding and we ask all passengers to head for the gate…" The rest of the message couldn't be heard but I had heard enough. That was my flight and finally I was on my way to heaven!

**ONE WEEK LATER **

_**Ranger POV**_

I was so bored. I didn't think that if Stephanie was away for one week it would get this boring. No cars blowing up, no late night visits to her place, nothing except for these uninteresting meetings I had tons of. Stephanie would often take care of the meetings, always from her own will. She had become a huge part of my everyday life, but not as huge as I wanted. I hadn't told her that I would like to have her living with me on seventh floor, that I would like to marry her, have children with her.. the list goes on. I didn't tell her because I wouldn't want to mess our relationship and make it more complicated than it already were.

Even though she called her week off a vacation, I knew that she were also having a little time of after the Morelli-thing. She had caught Morelli and Terry Gilman naked on his couch playing "hide-the-salami" a few days before she decided to go for a vacation. She was heart-broken but she put on a brave face that could fool many but not me and my men. I knew she was like a little sister to most of the guys, and many of them offered to "take care of the garbage" and "cut the salami to little bits". She had said no thanks but had clearly thought about accepting the offers.

A week later she had asked to be a part of RangeMan and I had said yes. She had been trained by most of the guys, learning everything about guns, pick up a tail or be the tail and much more. I had trained her in the gym, martial arts and escape technics among others. She was getting better everyday and that night she had surprised me in a positive way. I hadn't even thought about that window until it was too late. I was beyond proud of her and I fell even more in love with her when I saw her laughing in her new BMW I had bought to her. I could have gotten into the car, but I had decided not to, not wanting to spoil her fun.

I snapped out of my thoughts when somebody called to my phone from a number I didn't know. I recognized the land code in front of the number, France. I picked up the phone.

"Hello?"

"Allô, monsieur Manoso?" a man said in thick french accent. "I am doctor Carrelet from the American Hospital in Paris. I have called because your number is an ICE *- number on mademoiselle Plums phone. I have some bad news and it's quite urgent, how fast would it take for you to get to Paris?"

*ICE- number: In Case of Emergency

Please Review as this is my first FF :)


	2. Chapter 2

Thank you for all the reviews! Here's the new chapter

The characters are not mine and I'm not making any money, sadly

* * *

**Ranger POV**

The drive to the airport was longer than it had ever been. I couldn't stop thinking about what had happened and I was scared because I didn't know anything. Dr. Carrelet had refused to say anything on the phone, just urging me to come as soon as possible. It could only mean that this was serious, really serious. I had left in such hurry that I didn't even have the time to say goodbye to the guys. I had just taken my bag that I had in my office for times like this, when I needed to make a quick exit and had taken the fastest car in the garage. I'd call Tank when I was at the airport.

The good thing was that I had always a private plane ready for flight in just 30 minutes. I hit the breaks outside the terminal doors and bolted for the plane. I called Tank as I headed through security.

"Yo" he answered right away.

"Tank, I need you to pick up my car at terminal 1 doors at the airport and get me a car waiting at Charles de Gauille airport."

"Boss? Why such hurry?"

"Steph's in hospital in Paris and they need me there yesterday"

"Shit" he breathed. "She okey?"

"Don't know, they refuse to tell me anything" My voice revealed the frustration I was experiencing. "Gotta go, Tank, my plane's leaving."

"Yea, call me as soon as you know anything"

I hung up as I climbed through the door to the plane and the doors were closed. I felt the adrealine pumping through my system after that long run. Now it was the time to wait the long seven hours of flight. I'd be in Paris round 7 p.m, and I hoped that that would be fast enough.

* * *

As Tank had promised there were a black SUV waiting for me just outside the terminal doors and I jumped in and sped off. I had been to Paris many times but needed still the navigator. Speeding towards the city center I began to worry that maybe I was too late. After all this effort, maybe I hadn't been fast enough. The pain ripped right through me as I imagined Stephs' still, cold body lying on some french hospital bed. I still didn't know what had happened, but if she was still alive I would hunt down whoever did this to my babe! And she had to be alive, I couldn't live with myself if she wasn't, I should've came with her, protecting her from the evil world.

Somebody yelled at me and I snapped right back to the reality. I was nearing the hospital, it was a couple of blocks away. Right on time the huge hospital emerged from behind of some, for me unnecessary, buildings. I hit the brakes and flew out of the car, leaving it in the middle of the road. I didn't care about the car or the fines they would give me, all I cared about was my babe and she was in there somewhere.  
I ran up the stairs and in to the beautiful lobby. The floors in the round shaped lobby was in white marble and the ceiling was high. A young woman with long, blonde hair was sitting behind a huge desk looking worried as I jogged towards her.

"Excuse-moi, monsieur? Can I help you?" She looked like she hoped that I would go away.

"I'm looking for Stephenie Plum. Dr. Carrelet called me."

She put her nail file down and typed something in on her computer and waited a moment while it searched through the database. I seamed it took forever for the computer to beep. The woman studied the screen and studied it once again. I drummed my fingers on the wooden counter. I had never been this anxious in my whole life.

"Mademoiselle Plum has just gotten out of surgery and is now monitored on level six. Take those elevators to the sixth floor and ask again at the info desk there. They will give you more details there." She pointed at some elevators at the end of the hall and I jogged there. I could feel her staring at me and saw her turn away as I stepped into the elevator and pressed the button. As the doors shut, I breathed out a sign of relief. She wasn't dead! Though surgery wasn't good either, I was glad it wasn't worse. The elevator was quite large, large enough to fit a hospital bed and doctors at the same time. It was made from steal and had doors in both ends.

The elevator stopped and I stepped out through the same doors to the sixth floor. "Intensive Care Unit, condition 1" it said on the sign above the desk that was in the middle of a round hall. The hall was busy as people ran through it in hurry. I saw many doctors and more nurses and they all looked extreamly stressed. They all spoke in hushed voices while looking at patient files. I guess this was where all the most injured patients came. It worried me that Steph was here and I hurried through the people to get to the desk. An elderly nurse was sitting there going through files. She had her gray hair in a tight bun high on her head and she looked like she knew what she was doing.

"Excuse-moi madame? Could you please tell me where I can find mademoiselle Plum?" I asked in fluient french.  
She looked shocked and stare at me for a while. Then she begun to go through the patient files.

"Stephanie Plum?"

"Oui"

"Are you a relative?" she asked me quite sceptically.

"Yes, I'm married to her" I answered to her. The lying was neccesary, if I wasn't I wouldn't have the right to see her.

She looked at me for a second.  
"I have to call a nurse to accompany you." she explaned to me as she picked up the phone. After a few minutes a nurse walked up to me. She was young, propably straight from med-school.

"This way" she said to me and started to walk toward one of the many hallway that led out of the great hall. I noticed that there were signs above the hallways. "HEART", "ORTOPEDIC", "ORGANS", "BRAINS", "LUNGS", "GENERAL" and many other things was written on the signs. The nurse led my way to the "general" hallway. It seemed to go on forever. We walked in utter silence and just over the midd-point of the hallway the nurse stopped. It seamed to be a waiting area of somekind with three white couches and a coffee machine. An ugly painting was hanging above the middle-couch.

"Please sit on the sofa and wait a minute" she said to me. I sat down and the nurse looked pleased. She opended door number 6678, walked inside and closed the door.

The wait was acognising. I saw many doctors rush right past me not even looking at me. Guess they had seen many relatives sit on these couches. As the minutes ticked by I was becoming more and more stressed. Why was the nurse taking so long? As if she had heard my thoughts, she opened the door and stepped out and walked up to me.

"She is still half asleep after the surgery and might be in pain. Don't get her stressed and you should be okey. There is a red button above the bed that will call a team of doctors. Press that button in case of emergency. There is also a blue button that will call a nurse. Press that one if she's in pain and need some relief. Got that?"

I could only nod and hope she would let me in already. As if she read my mind she stepped aside and opened the door. I stepped inside the small, dark room and could only vaguely see the bed on the right side of the door. A small person was rapped in thick bandages and huddled inside huge blankets. The heart monitor beeped reasuring me that she was alive.

"Ranger...?" I heard in the darkness.

**Stephs POV**

My head was throbbing and my legs were killing me. I was lying on a hospital bed in the darkness alone and feeling quite depressed. I had sworn to myself to never talk about the events that led to this moment. I was so embarrassed by everything and it would be horrible for people to know about this. Now I just had to stop thinking about it. Easier said than done. I sighed and tried to adjust myself but stopped right there because I felt pain shooting up my spine. I groaned just as the nurse walked in to the room. Her name was Nadine and had been a nurse just for a year now. She had been my nurse for the past day or so and I had gotten to like her. She smiled as she approached me.

"Hey, how are you doing to day?"

"I'm fine" I said to her. Infact I was really tired after the surgery, I wanted to fall asleep but I was scared of the nightmares that had kept me up all last night. I had woken up in the middle of the night screaming at the top of my lungs and trying to get out of the bed. It had taken three nurses and a doctor to get me calm and I didn't want that to happen again.

"Your husband is here to see you." Nadine said to me, interrupting my thoughts.

Husband? But I wasn't married yet. It got to be Ranger, we had used the same lie in almost every hospital in the U.S. every time he had got injured while working. Tank was also my "brother" as far as the staff knew.

"Can I let him in?" she asked me. I though about the odds that it would be someone else, but nodded anyways. She smiled and walked out of the room. I could hear her talking to someone in a demanding voice. Like she was lecturing the person outside.

Gosh, I was sooo tired. I closed my eyes and breathed out. I was as relaxed that I could and then I felt those little hairs on my arms raise. I knew this feeling.

"Ranger...?" I murmured into the darkness.

**Ranger POV**

My heart broke as I heard her trembling voice. It was just like she was on the edge of crying. I hurried towards the bed and saw her for the first time in the vague light from the machines and the window. It was already starting to get dark outside and the shadows were growing longer and longer. My babe was huddled inside of atleast three blankets and still I could see that she was shivering. I could see that she had a collar on and her head was heavily bandaged. That was the only part of her body that I could see properly and the whole right side of her head was covered in thick bandages. Her mascara had run and she was as pale as a ghost. But still her eye lid up as she saw me and smiled at me. I couldn't help but smile back at her and reached out a hand to touch her cheek. She closed her eyes and leaned on my hand.

"Oh, babe..." I whispered. I whiped a single tear off her cheek. "Please, don't cry. You aren't in pain, are you?"

"I had worse" she responded to me. I pressed the blue button, just to be sure and watched her. My babe was so small, so vunerable and my cave man instincts was growing. I wished that I could take her away to a secret place and take care of her untill the end of time.

My thoughts were interrupted by a nurse hurrying in to the room and pushing me away from the bed. She asked her the basic questions and she answered them. She was beginning to sound and look tired and the nurse told her to rest and pushed me out of the room. As we were in the hallway, she turned to me.

"You let that poor girl rest!"

"Yes, I will" I answered her but I think we both knew that I could be found in room 6678 during the night.

"Very well..." she said. "Do you want to talk to her doctor? Dr. Carrelet?"

I said yes and she hurried away. I was alone in the hallway and started to pace outside her room. I wanted to go inside but didn't want to be caught breaking the rules by Carrelet.

I paced for a long time or so it felt but when I glanced at my watch I could see that only ten minutes had passed. When I looked up and towards the hall, I could see Dr. Carrelet hurrying towards me on the long hallway. He looked totally different than I had pictured him to be. He was middle-aged, with dark hair that was cut very short and he was quite short, his head reached to the tip of my chin. He seemed stressed but I guess that this job did that to you. I also noticed that he had a huge coffee stain on the collar shirt he had under his white, doctors coat and he seemed like he tried to hide it. "Dr. Philippe Carrelet" was written on his coat.

"Mr. Manoso I presume?" he said to me offering me his hand.

"Yes. How is she?" I asked while I shook his hand. He glanced briefly at the file he had in his hand.

"She's stable for now. She had major surgery on her inner organs earlier yesterday. She was found staggering outside Sacre-couer yesterday morning, all bloody and beaten. She has a concussion, her left wrist is broken as are her right ankle and left fibula. This was though minor in comparison to her other wounds. We discovered that she had major inner bleeding and we fixed that with a operation yesterday as I mentioned earlier. Today we operated her bones. We also suspect that she might have a broken bone in her neck, that is why we have a collar on her."

Oh my God! What on earth happened to my Babe? These injures were not a laughing matter and my babe thought that "she had worse". I guess she was trying not to worry me. And who had done this? If I get my hand on that one, I swear that I'll make him suffer and bad. No one had the right to hurt my Babe!

"Is there any chance for me to take her home, back to the states?" I asked the doctor, trying to focuse on this matter, not going through what I was going to do to the attacker. The doctor looked .?docid=20867203d.

"Good for you to ask, since we would also happy for her to go home. Statiscs show that patients have better recoveries near home. I have talked this matter with my colleuges and we all agree that it would be great if the opportunity would surface. There is of course some practical questions that have to be disscussed and huge amounts of paperwork. Could we maybe take this to my office?"

Carrelet started to walk towards the hall and seemed pleased by the fact that I was following him without any objections. I sent Tank a text while the doc was facing away:

_Check Philippe Carrelets background ASAP_

* * *

Please review! :)

And I haven't been to the American Hospital in Paris, so I don't know how it looks there. I have completely made up the description of the hospital.


	3. Chapter 3

Here's chapter three! I'm writing fast because I'm feeling inspired and want to get stuff done. I'm also on a holiday and have nothing to do. :)

Not mine and not making any money :(

* * *

**Tank POV**

Every time Ranger was away, I was in charge of the company and the guys who worked for RangeMan. Usually that wouldn't be a problem I was always up for the challenge. This time it was different. The guys couldn't focus, and to be honest neither could I. I was beyond worried for Ranger and Steph and keeping a straight face on was proving more difficult every day that passed.

Ranger had been in Paris for two days now, sorting out what was needed for him to move Steph to the States. She had gotten better too, she had even talked to me for a while in the phone. I smiled as I recalled how frustraited she sounded. The life of a hospital patient didn't suite her at all. Ranger had caught her leaning at the window yesterday. She said that she wanted to see the weather outside and had desided to check it, gotten up from the bed, walked to the window but hadn't had the strenght to walk back to the bed. He had had to carry her back to the bed. She didn't like being treated like a child, she had told me on the phone. I could almost see the way she frowned.  
With every day that passed she was becoming more and more like a little sister for me, and to many others who worked here. The thought of somebody hurting her made my blood boil and I wanted to hunt the bastard down and do horrible things to him, just to see him suffer. I wasn't a violent guy at heart but hurt one of my people, you hurt me.

I snapped out of that thought and tried to focus on this goddamn paperwork. Ugh, I hated this part of the job, and I was glad it wasn't my normal job. I couldn't figure out these stupid numbers and I was getting more and more frustrated. I was thinking about shreading these papers but I figured that that wouldn't be wise. Ranger would get furious.

My phone rung. I checked the caller I.D.

"Yo, bossman" I answered the call.

"We're ready here. I'm taking Babe home with a special plane the government is lending us. I need you to get a car waiting for us at the airport, at 4 p.m."

"Got that, boss. Need something else?" I said as I was sending a text to Lester, telling him to organize the cars.

"Not at this moment, Tank. We'll discuss things today when we get home."

", about these papers..?"

He hung up.

* * *

**Steph's POV**

Today was the day that we were finally flying home. Nadine had told me that the staff were glad to have me on my way, because "some" staff members were afraid of Ranger. We had laughed at it and said our goodbyes this morning. Now I was sitting in a wheelchair feeling totally embarrassed by the looks people where giving me wishing that I'd be back in my room. Ranger was pushing the chair towards the elevators down to the hospital lobby. He was dressed in full black and looked really handsome , while I looked totally ridiculus with my hair pointing at every direction and half of my face was still covered in thick bandages. Ranger hadn't had any of my clothes in his sports bag so I had to wear one of his t-shirts and and my own pants. Luckily they had survived the tough ordeal.

Ranger pushed me into the elevator and stood behind me, and I couldn't see him. The doors closed and I was surprised when he spun the chair around so I was facing him. He had his hands on the hand rests and he was leaning towards me. His eyes were softer than I had ever seen them, they had so many emotions in them. He opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something. He stood there deep in thought and tried to say something many times but every time he couldn't get it out.

"Ranger...? Do you want to say something to me?" I whispered at him, placing my hand on his.

"I just.." He sounded more confused than I have ever seen him. He shook his head as if trying to get rid of some thought.

The doors opened but he didn't move. He just looked confused.

"Ranger? The doors are open and people are starring at us." I said to him, glancing at the lobby. That seamed to get him out of his thoughts and he spun me around and whealed me out in the lobby and out of the hospital. He had aranged a car to be waiting outside the hospital and to take us to the airport. He had explaned that we didn't fly with his own plane, that the gorvernment had borrowed some kindof special plane that had medical equipment installed. It was like a flying hospital, he had said.

There was a tall man standing besides the black SUV outside the hospital. He looked like Tank, but had softer features and no tattoos. He saluted Ranger and opened the the door for us. Ranger picked me up carefully, trying not to hurt me. I tried to hide my grimace but he caught it anyway.

"I'm sorry Babe."

"Don't be. It's my fault really..." I whispered.

He sat me carefully down on the backseat and sat next to me. He wrapped his arm around my shoulders. I leaned into him, making my self as comfortable as possible. He stroked gently my arm, comforting me.

"Wanna talk about it?"

I felt him rest his cheek carefully on the top of my head. I was tempted to talk to him, tell him everything about those nights. About the most horrifying experience of my life. About how I saw his eyes everytime time I closed my eyes, how his voice rang in my ears, about the nightmares, about the horror I felt when I was alone. About the relief I felt when he finally had showed up. There was another thing for me to think about. Why had I felt the way I had? This feeling was so much stronger than it had ever been with Morelli. I still had to think over my feelings and figure out what he thought about me. He seemed to like me, he had come all the way to Paris to be with me. But how much did he care about me? Was it like "I-like-you-in-a-friendly-way" or "I-want-to-have-you-RIGHT-now"-way?

"Babe?"

"Hm?"

"We're at the airport."

I snapped out of my thoughts. How can we be at the airport already, we were just at the hospital? But he was right, the car had stopped just beside the plane. It was black and slighty larger than Rangers plane. I could count ten windows. There were two women waiting by the stairs. They were wearing the same uniform, a blue knee-lenght dress and what got to be worlds ugliest shoes. One were blond and tall and the other was a brunette who was shorter and had a fuller figure. There were also a pilot waiting for us at the top of the stairs . He was an older man, maybe in his fifties, and had brown hair and a quite robust figure. He looked like he was a kind man.

Ranger was smiling at me. His eyes were still soft, and they transformed his face compleately. His features were softer and he was les intimidating , and I liked this new softer Ranger.

"Let's go, Babe." He lifted me out of the car and into his arms. I leaned into his chest and sighed, thanking God that they had taken my collar of today. I pressed my ear to his chest and heard his soothing heartbeat, beating in a steady rhytm. He carried me up the stairs and into the plane. The plane was divided in three different sections. The first was an area for the staff. The second area had a hospital bed on the other side of the plane and huge amounts of medical machines on the other side. This area was in the middle of the plane and the third section was a livingroom type of room in the back. There was couches and armchairs, all in beige leather.

"Where do you want to sit, babe?" Ranger asked me softly. One of the nurse-flight attendents, the blond one, tried to say something.

"Sir? It would be best for her if she lied on the bed.." She stopped talking in the middle of that sentance. I guess Ranger had given her that look he gives persons he don't like. I smiled at that.

"I don't want to lay on a hospital bed..." I whispered to Rangers cheast. "I don't like them."

"Babe, let's compromise, shall we? You lay on the bed when we take of, but then your free to sit where you want. That sound ok?"

I thought about that.

"Fine, fine.." I mumbled and could feel him chuckling. He put me down on the bed, and the nurses came to tie me down. All I cared about was Rangers hand in mine. He was standing by my head, looking at me, smiling. And I smiled back at him.

What on earth was I doing? I realized I cared deeply about him. No, hell, I loved him. As soon as thought about it, I knew it was true. I loved Ranger. Holy cow... And I knew that I could trust him.

"Hey, Ranger? About that thing we talked about in the car..."

"Sir, please be seated. We are taking off." The brunette nurse told him, and started to lead his way to the livingroom type of area.

"Babe, can you wait a minute? Let's talk when we are up in the air. We have seven hours to talk." The nurse shoved him to make him move.

"Sir, please!" Ranger was still looking at me.

"Okey." I said not wanting to make the nurses angry.

Ranger smiled and let go of my hand. It felt empty and cold.

* * *

After we had lifted Ranger had come back. He took my hand in his and opened my safetybelts and carried me to the living room and put me down on a couch by a window. Then he sat next to me and pulled me closer to him, so I was leaning on him. I felt safe and compleat. I rested my head on his shoulder and relaxed. He put his arms around me and stroked gently my arm, both of us feeling comforted by this. We sat there, totally quiet for a while.

"Babe, you wanted to talk about what happened?" he said quietly to me. I sighed.

"You don't have to if you don't want to."

"But, I want to tell you. I don't want to hide things from you anymore. Because I..." I fell silent.

"You..?" Ranger asked curiosly still stroking my arm.

"IthinkIloveyou" I blurred out. I was glad I couldn't see his face and held my breath. He sat silently not moving. Silence.

Oh great, he didn't love me and now I've screwed things over, big time. Shit, shit, shit! From now on things would be weird between us and after a time we would be so uncomfortable with each other that we couldn't work together. Someone might even move out of town, and we'd never see each other again. Damn my big mouth! Why did I say that, why?

He pressed his lips on the top of my head, supricing me.

"I love you to, mi querida."

I lifted my head so I could look at him.

"You do..?" I whispered.

"I have love you since the day I met you. I haven't said anything, in fear of ruining what we had. I was going to tell you got home from your vacation. I even tried to tell you in the elevator at the hospital. "

I just looked at him, in total awe. He loved me? He loved me! And I loved...

My thoughts were interrupted by his lips on mine, kissing me softly and lovingly. I lifed my hands and crossed them around his neck, deepening the kiss not worrying about the dull pain in my abdomen. The kiss went on forever and it felt like time stood still. Way too soon I had to breath. We sat there breathing heavily just looking at each other and smiling. His eyes radieted warmth and love, softening his features. I had never felt this way before, not even with Morelli and I thought I had loved him with all my heart.

"I love you" I said to him.

"I love you to, mi querida, and always will."

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Please Review, it means so much to me :)

Also I'm not sure there is a plane like this in the real life but what the hell :) In the next chapter I will tell what happened to Steph in Paris :)


	4. Chapter 4

Here's chapter 4! Thanks for all the reviews, they totally made my day!

Not mine, not making any money

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FOUR HOURS INTO THE FLIGHT

**Steph POV**

Time had flown by, and I couldn't believe that we had been up in the air for almost four hours! Ranger and I had talked about pretty much everything, everything except what we should talk about. I had my head on his lap, lying across the couch. He was playing with one of my curls and we both were silent. He was waiting for me to start talking and I was still figuring out if I should tell him. I knew he wouldn't like what he heard and a part of me was afraid that he wouldn't like me in the same way anymore. I took a deep breath.

"I had decided that I would have fun while I was in Paris and Connie's sister lives in there. She suggested a club for me and I headed there on Saturday night. I had arrived on Friday and I had headed for some shopping on Champs-Elysees. I found a dress I liked and I wore it that night to the club. Connie's sister had advised me to take a spare set of clothes with me, she told me that it's not wise to take the subway on a Saturday night in a tight dress. So I took a pair of pants with me in a over sized handbag. When I arrived at the club, it was already almost full but I was let in anyway. As the night went on I realized that a man was looking at me and it wasn't the first time I had caught him. Anyways we got into talking and for some reason he wanted to show me the city. And I said yes."

I shiverd as I continued.

"We walked for a while and he said that he had a gorgeous view from his apartment and wanted to show me it. I didn't really want to but he talked me into it. He had an apartment on fifth floor and when we got there he showed me the view. It was really magnificent, you could see Sacre-Coeur nearby. He poured us champagne and toasted. I drank the glass and then realized he hadn't even taken a sip. Next thing I know I'm tied to a bed in a dark room."

I had to wait a while and pull myself together, focusing on Rangers soothing breathing. I really didn't want to talk about this but figured this was for the better for him to know.

"I don't know how long I had been lying there, it could have been hours or days. I was starving and really thirsty but there was nothing for me to eat or drink... After a while I heard some noises behind the door to the room. I heard a man and a woman and they were arguing over something. I heard a slap and a woman's cry, so I figured the man had hit her... Then he said something quite harshly and slammed the door open to the room where I was... I saw it was the same man that had given me the champagne... and he started to hit me, over and over again and.. and I couldn't do anything!"

I could feel tears running down my cheek. I was reliving the memories of those days and it was like I was been hit all over again.

"Shh, babe... It's alright, no body's going to hurt you anymore, not when I'm here." He said to me in a soft voice offering me his hand. I took it and squeezed it tightly between my hands, not ever wanting to let go.

"It went on for hours I think... I blacked out a few times... When I woke up from the last one, I thought that I was all alone again... He had taped my mouth shut and I had to struggle to breath... A while I just laid there just focusing on the breathing, I felt numb and cold. It was so cold there Ranger, so cold..."

I had goosebumps all over my body and I was shivering. A silent sob escaped my lips.

"I looked down and saw that... that I wasn't wearing my clothes, they were somebody else clothes. Very old fashioned, like they were from the early seventies. When I was looking at my clothes, I heard somebody crying... I saw in the dim lighting that there was several beds in the room, and that the room was larger than I had imagined. And on the bed closest to me was a woman.. and she was crying..."

"She had a British accent I think and she was saying over and over again " They are all dead and I'm next"..."

My voice broke. I remembered the horror in her voice and the weak fighting against the cuffs. The fighting of a half dead woman.

"Oh, Ranger it was so horrible. She looked like she had been there for many days, maybe even weeks, she was all bloody and beaten. And then... after a while the man came back with a woman.. I think she had to be his girlfriend or something... Anyway the man went to the woman and the girlfriend came to my bed... The man.. he had a knife and..."

I was crying hard now clenching Rangers hand like I had no tomorrow.

"Oh, Babe!" Ranger said to me. Then he moved me so that I was now in sitting in his lap, with his arms around me protecting me from the world. I had my head on the hollow of his neck, breathing in his scent and had a tight grip on his shirt. I felt him burying his head in my curls. We sat there, just breathing each other in and in my case calming down. My sobbing died down but the tears continued to stream down my cheeks making his shirt wet. He stroked my back in a soothing way and I started to realise my death grip on his shirt.

"They made me watch when he... you know?.. killed her...I can still hear her screams in my dreams. Then he raped her. After he was finished with her, he came to me and whispered "You're next, bitch" in my ear and started to take my clothes of..." I whispered to Rangers neck. "I have never been so scared in my whole life. After he was .. done..they just left me there, now completely alone in a room with a dead body. I was there for what seemed eternity, jumping at every sound that I heard. "

"Then one day, I heard the man left the apartment and the girlfriend came to me. She looked scared, looking over her shoulder constantly. She had plastic bags with her and started to bag the dead woman. She struggled with her but eventually she was finished. Then she came to my bed.

_"Pierre told me to get rid of you both. He's coming with new girls today."_

_"Please, please don't kill me!" I begged to her. "Please, I won't tell anyone I swear! Just please!"_

_She stood there looking at me, thinking over things. She looked like she struggled with the decision._

_"Fine, but you cannot tell anyone. I'll dump you behind Sacre-Coeur and then you're on your own. Pierre will never find out... But we have to hurry! He can come back anytime."_

She hurried to open my cuffs and get me out of the bed. I couldn't walk at all but she helped me to a car she had behind the building. Then she hurried back upstairs and returned with the plastic bags. She drove me to Sacre-Coeur, gave me my bag and pushed me out of the car and raced of. I was left alone in the night until an older woman found me and called an ambulance."

I stopped talking. Ranger wasn't moving. That worried me and I tried to move away but he held me closer to him. I figured he was thinking things over.

"Babe, I'm so sorry that you had to go through that. I'm so sorry I wasn't there to help you. I'm so, so sorry mi querida."

"I'm fine now when I'm with you..."

* * *

**Ranger POV**

I was still in shock about what Steph had told me. She on the other hand had fallen asleep on the couch in my arms and I didn't want to bother her as she had told me that she hadn't slept well in the whole week. It felt good to have her in my arms finally and in a way I felt more complete that I had ever been before. My love for this woman had grown stronger during this flight and I felt like nothing could come between us.

The story Steph had told me made my blood boil. I felt so helpless when she told me about all the abuse, mental and physical, she had endured during those days. I had promised to myself that I would hunt this bastard down and torture him until he would die, slowly and painfully. Nobody had the right to touch my Babe and he was going to pay the price for that. I had already sent a text to Tank, that he should check if he found similar cases in the database. After background check had proven to be a dead-end, we had nothing to go on.

Steph had told us somethings that could be useful, like the fact that she could see the Sacre-Coeur from the apartment narrowed down the area to search. Also the name, Pierre, was useful but then again it was a very common name in France. She had also told me that the car was red and quite small but she hadn't seen the plates. The house was brown and had at least seven floors, she had remembered too. I felt utterly frustrated with the whole thing. I wanted to get my hands on him and now! I hated to feel this useless and the waiting would be horrible. Even though I could sit through hours of surveillance, this was different. This was my Babe we are talking about.

I had told her that it would be best for her to stay with me at the seventh floor, because of her injuries and the fact that we didn't know who had done this and if he would come after her when he found out that she wasn't dead. The building had the best security system in the country and I had even a little hospital wing built, just because in my business you got hurt more than you would want to. I had also sent a text message to Bobby and he would be waiting for us as soon as we got to there.

I realized that the nurses were whispering by the hospital bed, glancing at us. The blond nurse spoke first.

"Sir, we are landing soon and we were wondering what we should do with Ms. Plum?"

"We'll be fine here back, thank you." I said to them, daring them to say anything with my eyes.

"I think..." the blond nurse started but the brunette shoved her out of the way.

"That'll be good, sir. Do you need help with the seat belts?"

"No thank you, we'll be fine"

The brunette shoved the blond to the staff area. I felt the plane start the landing and sighed a sigh of relief. Finally we were back home. The planes wheels touched softly the ground below and soon we were standing still beside the terminal. A black SUV was waiting for us and I saw Lester standing beside the car. I gently shook Steph to wake her up.

"Mmh... Five more minutes.." she mumbled and tried to get away from me. I caught her just as she was at the edge of the couch, almost falling down.

"Wake up Babe, we need to get out of the plane. We're home"

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There you have it! Please review and make me a very happy woman!


	5. Chapter 5

Here's chapter 5! Not much action in this one, this is like "in the middle of the action" chapter. I felt like I needed this one, so that there wasn't action on action, you know?

Thank you for all the reviews, love to wake up to them :)

Not mine, not making money

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**Ranger POV**

I carried Steph to the car and sat down with her in the backseat letting Lester drive. She was still a little groggy after the flight and as soon as we hit the free-way she was asleep. She was leaning on me and I had my hand around her. Lester looked at us through the mirror.

"So you told her?" he asked me and smirked.

"No. She told me first." I answered him and looked proudly down on the beautiful woman laying in my arms. She was everything I needed in this world.

"Did you call the French police?" I asked Lester after a while.

"Yea, and they're not going to help us. They say that there are no evidence to support her story."

"What? No evidence? She was beaten half dead and they say they don't have any evidence?" Steph stirred in her sleep and I lowered my voice.

"Yea, pretty unbelievable, ain't it? So, I hacked into their database and found a few similar cases from a few years back. Back-ups her story perfectly."

"Nothing else?"

"Same thing as she told us. The building is new and so is the car too, but they have used the same kind of cars. One of the earlier girls saw a plate number but it turned out it was stolen."

"Keep working on it. It can happen that none of the previous girls survived."

We turned into Trenton and after a few minutes of driving we were turning into the garage. I could see that half of the crew was there to welcome us. I motioned them to be quiet and opened the door. I leaned back in and lifted babe in my arms and she leaned to me sighing happily.

"Bobby, up on seventh or in the H. wing?"

"Seventh, I think" Tank said and I nodded to them.

I stepped into the elevator and rode up to seventh. I had the time to think about things but I wasn't able to think about anything "important" but my babe. She was sleeping tightly, grabbing on to my shirt gently with her small fingers. Her curls were a major mess but I didn't mind that, the important thing was that she was here with me. The doors opened and I stepped into the living room. Bobby was standing beside the window looking out. He turned around when he heard me.

"Welcome back!"

"It's good to be back." I said to him and walked over to the bedroom. I saw that Ella had been here to change the sheets and had made the bed. I sat her down on the bed and shook her gently.

"Babe, wake up. Bobby's going to take a look, okey?"

She mumbled something and buried her head in the pillow.

"She's the same isn't she?" Bobby chuckled.

"Yes, she is." I hope so, I added in my head. "Babe."

"Alright, alright! I'm up." she mumbled and opened her eyes. "Hello, Bobby. Long time no see.."

"Hey, bomber! How are you feeling?"

"Besides grumpy and tired? I'm fine."

Bobby smiled at her and preformed the exam. After he was done, he seemed pleased.

"She's fine. Her legs need time to recover but other than that she's good. They did a good job in Paris."

* * *

Two weeks later

**Steph's POV**

It had been almost two weeks since we came back home. I had moved in with Ranger, because that was better for my safety and because somebody had broke in to my apartment and trashed it beyond any repair. I had brought Rex from my parents house and his cage was now on Ranger's kitchen counter and Rex seemed happy. And I was too. The time I had spent with Ranger had been better than I could have imagined. I had hardly any nightmares any more, now when I slept in his arms. We were closer than ever and I was wondering what would happen next, if I was with Morelli he would have gotten me into bed already. It wasn't like I didn't want to, I wasn't sure if I was ready for it and Ranger seemed to respect that. I remembered one morning when we had had breakfast together.

_We were sitting by the table in comfortable silence both eating our own breakfasts and looking at each other._

_"I want to do this the right way, you know that?" he said to me, breaking the silence._

_"Do what right?"_

_"This dating thing.. That's why I thought that if you want to, I have a table reservation for Friday evening.." he seemed nervous and I felt my heart grow larger. He looked so vurneable and he seemed afraid that I'll say no._

_"Of course I want to come with you." His face broke into a smile and he walked over to me and kissed me._

_"Like a real date?" I asked him._

_"Yes, a real date. Why?"_

_"It's just that I haven't been on a real date in years. Morelli would come home to me with a pizza."_

_

* * *

_

I was standing nervously in front of the mirror. I had had my casts taken of today morning and was loving the freedom. I had gone shopping for a dress as Ranger had said I should be dressed up. I guess this meant that he was also dressing up and this was a real, real date. I had found a gorgeous black satin dress that brought up my best features It hugged my curves in the right way and was sleeveless. I love this dress and I knew that Ranger would love it too. I had my curls in a loose bun and only a touch of make-up and if I must say, I looked pretty damn gorgeous.

Ranger knocked on the bathroom door.

"Babe, you ready?"

I took a last look and opened the door. Ranger was wearing a black suit that looked totally heavenly on him. His eyes roamed on my body, his eyes getting darker.

"You look absolutely beautiful." he said to me offering me his hand. I took it and smiled at him.

"You're not looking so bad either mr. Manoso."

He smiled at me as he led my way to the car in the garage, I saw that we were going to take his new Porsche, black of course. He opened my door and I thanked him and sat down. He closed the door and walked over to his side. He drove the car out of the garage and turned into the main street.

"Where are we going?" I asked him curiously.

"You'll see" he said and smiled at me.

He drove a while and stopped outside a small restaurant on the outside of Trenton. It looked really expensive and the name was French. He parked the car and opened me my door. I took his hand and stepped out on the side walk. He led my way to the door and said his name to the guy at the door. He took a step back like a reflex and looked in his book, then showed us a private little table in the back of the restaurant. The decor was very sophisticated and our clothes didn't stand out. We sat down and I admired the silverware on the table. Ranger poured some champagne in our glasses. I was totally overwhelmed and he gave me a huge smile.

"Thinking hard there, babe?"

"It's just that, this is so expensive and ..."

"You deserve it all. "

We looked through the menus and ordered. He sat looking at me with his head tilted little to the side.

"What?"

"You look so beautiful."

I blushed and looked away. He took my hand and held it warmth felt good in my hand and I looked at him. His eyes radiated love and I think I might have melted a little.

Our foods arrived and we dug in. It had got to be one of the greatest meal of my entire life. The food and the company was the best it could get. While we ate we talked too.

"So how's things with your family?" He asked me.

"They're fine. Gradma has a new boyfriend and my mom hates him. Pretty much the usual" I answered to him, earning a smile.

"Yea, somethings never change." He chuckled.

"Are the guys still scared of grandma?"

"Terrified!" We laughed at it. It's quite funny how an old woman can scare grown men, men that wasn't scared even in the war.

The evening went on and I was having the time of my life. It was already dark when we leaved the restaurant and walked to the car. As I leaned in to open the car door Ranger pressed me against the car and kissed me with passion to set a building on fire.

The kiss took my breath away and made my knees weak. I threw my hands around his neck and kissed him back. Way too soon we had to gasp for air. I leaned my forehead on his chest and sighed.

"Wow.."

"Yeah, wow..."

"Ranger..?"

"Yes?"

"I think I might not be comfortable, with you know, sex.. Not at least tonight."

"That's okey. I'm not really a guy who has sex on the first date." He chuckled and hugged me.

It felt good that Ranger understood and didn't put the pressure on me. My physical wounds had healed but not my mental ones. The thought of having sex with Ranger felt good but I couldn't shake those memories. Not tomorrow and maybe not even next week. I had to take my time and do things in my pace. I hope that he would understand.

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Please review!

And no offense to the French police, I'm sure they're not like I wrote. :)


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter six for you :)

Thank you for the reviews, they honestly make my day :)

Not mine, not making any money..

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**Steph's POV**

I woke up way to early for my liking and stayed in bed. I figured that Ranger had left for work already since I was alone in the bed. I ran my hand to Ranger's side, feeling that the sheets were cold. I rolled over so that I was facing his empty side and sighed. I hated it when he had to go to work early and leave me alone. I reached for his pillow and hugged it tightly against me breathing in his scent. I fell asleep.

The next time I woke up it was late, almost noon and I had a huge headache on it's way. I groaned and rolled out of the bed and tumbled into the shower. I took my time, spoiling myself a little with a facial as I had a day of. I stepped out of the shower and walked out in the closet and decided to wear one of his black t-shirts and my pink sweat pants and walked out in the kitchen.

As I poured myself a cup of coffee I saw the note on the kitchen table.

_"Morning Babe_  
_I got an urgent mission and had to fly to Boston. Sorry that I can't be there with you, believe me, but the guys will protect you as good as I could. Promise me that you'll be careful! Love you and see you soon_  
_-R"_

Damn it! Why did my man always have these "urgent missions"? Why couldn't he have a normal job, why did he have to always save the world?  
Now I had a whole day off and nothing to do. I had planned that I might slip down to Ranger's office and distract him from his work but now that he was in Boston it was a bit harder. I called Lula.

"Hey girl, what's up?"

"Literally nothing. Ranger's out of town and I'm bored."

"You know what we have to do! We'll have a girls night in!" Lula was so exited that I could imagine her jumping up and down in the office.

"That's a great idea. Who'll we invite?"

"Well Connie of course because she will kill us if we don't." I heard a "Damn right I would!" in the background and laughed.

"I'll call Mary Lou and ask her."

"OK, will be there in... thirty minutes."

"Thirty minutes? Don't you have to work?"

""Vinnie's not here so he don't have to know."

* * *

Mary Lou couldn't come so it was just us three. I ran down stairs to inform the guys that Lula and Connie would be heading up and that they shouldn't stop them. Then I headed up to prepare some snacks and drinks and realized that Ella had changed our sheets while I was downstairs. Man that lady was fast! Just as I was finishing I heard the elevator.

"Heeey giirl!" I heard Lula yell from the elevator. "Wow, some place you have here!"

"You gotta give us a tour." Connie said to me and I gladly showed them around. We all agreed that the apartment was gorgeous and that I was a very, very lucky girl with a man like Ranger and a place like this. Then we took the drinks and snacks and made our way to the living room and chose a few films that we wanted to see.

First film we watched was Dirty Dancing. I had seen this movie a thousand times but that didn't bother me. We laughed and commented on everything while we drank our drinks, When the movie was over Lula made us some new drinks that were so strong that it made us cough. That didn't slow us down one bit. We watched a few films after that and we got drunker and louder with every one of them. The last film of the night was Titanic and we cried like little girls at the end.

"Oh that was so sad!" Connie cried.

"'They were so meant for each other!"

We realized that it was way past midnight and Lula and Connie had to head home. It took them way longer than usual to walk to the elevator and I think that Connie threw up in there. I laughed as I imagined one of the guys finding it. I made my way slowly to the bedroom and climbed in. I didn't feel right though. I took my pillow and climbed into one of Ranger's closets because it felt like a good idea. Thank God that he had one built in closet that was large enough to fit me. I made myself comfortable and fell asleep.

* * *

**Tank POV**

Ranger had arranged it so that Bobby and I had to go and check on Steph up on the seventh floor every night and make sure she's alright. This arrangement had gone okay so far, but she wasn't so pleased to have us babysitting her. We all understood that this was for the best for her and after a fight she had agreed to it.

This night it was silent in the apartment as we walked in but all the lights were on except the bedroom light. I saw that the girls night had been a success, there was dirty glasses every where and Bobby had almost stepped in the puddle in the elevator.

"I think she's sleeping or passed out. You stay here and I'll check." Bobby said to me and tip-toed to the bedroom. Mean while I walked through the rest of the apartment to make sure no unwanted guests were lurking around some corner or that Steph had passed out somewhere. When I was finished with the search I returned to the kitchen and took a glass of water. I saw that Bobby turned the lights on in the bedroom.

"Tank!"

I raced to the bedroom door and was greeted by an empty bed and a very panicked Bobby.

"Shit, shit!" I said. Ranger was going to kill us. "You check the bathroom and closet?"

"Yea. She's not there."

"OK, we need to focus. We're monitoring the exits so she must be in the building. Call Lester and everyone that's available and get them up here." I ordered Bobby and checked the bed again.

"What about Boss? Do we tell him?"

Silence.

"Maybe it's for the best to search for her first and then inform him. I mean, what can he do from Boston?" Bobby said to me and I nodded. He had read my mind. Searching for her would be easier if we weren't dead.

* * *

**Lester POV**

We had been divided into pairs and given a part of the building to search. Me and Hal were given the apartment. Tank was still in the kitchen, talking to Boss on the phone so we needed to be quiet. Man that man knew when to call. He knew something was wrong but we didn't want to alarm him, so we needed to find her and fast.

I was searching the bedroom, closet and bathroom and Hal searched the rest. The bedroom was Steph-less and I continued to the bathroom. There was really no place to hide there so that was quick. I returned to the closet. It seemed empty except for all the clothes. I could clearly see which ones were Ranger's and which were Stephs. Almost everything on Ranger's side was black but since Steph came in the picture different colors was introduced to his color palette.

As I stood there wondering about colors I heard a weird noise. I stood completely quiet and still. The noise was coming from Ranger's closed closet. I walked closer and drew my gun. With one hand on the door knob and holding my gun in the other I counted to three and threw the door open. I smiled at the sight before my eyes.

Steph was sleeping on the bottom of the closet with Ranger's shirts. She had her pillow with her and had a peaceful expression on her face. I slowly and quietly backed away and closed the door to the closet but left it a bit open so she could breath properly. I stepped out of the bedroom.

"Found her!"

**Tank POV**

Just as Bobby had made the call to Lester, my phone rang.

"Yo, boss" I said trying not to sound worried.

"What's wrong Tank?"

"Nothing! Everything is fine!" I said with a nervous laughter.

"Tank, tell me!" he was sounding more and more angry. Just then Lester and Hal came out of the elevator. I motioned them to be silent and they nodded in understanding.

"Is Steph OK?" he sounded worried.

"I'm sure she's fine."

"Sure? What do you mean by sure?"

I was silent for a while.

"Tank!"

"Okey, okey.." I sighed.

I saw Lester emerging from the bedroom.

"I found her!"

Relief washed over God! The other side of the line was totally quiet.

"Found who?"

"Well that's a funny story, boss" I made a nervous chuckle. He was silent.

"Well Bobby and I went to check on her and she wasn't in the bed so we called Lester and the others to help looking for her. And Lester found her."

"Let me speak to Lester." He sounded angry and relieved. Angry because I didn't tell him immediately and relieved because she was found.

I handed the phone to Lester.

"What's up?"

He waited a while, listening to Ranger.

"Yea, she's fine. Sleeping in your closet." He laughed and I heard laughter from the other side of the phone.

* * *

**Steph POV**

I woke up in the closet with a huge hang-over. I groaned as the pain rushed through my brain. I had never had this massive headache and dragged myself to the kitchen. To my huge surprise The Cure was placed on the kitchen table and a note was taped to it.

_"Thought you might like this_  
_-Tank"_

I got dressed and walked down to my office. I had some searches to do and I intended to get them done quickly so I could go back to sleep. I typed the names in the computer and waited. I was starting to fall asleep in the chair but then Lester rushed in.

"Morning sleepy head! Had a nice evening?" He was talking very loudly just to irritate me.

"If I didn't have a huge headache I'd kill you, do you know that?"

"A bit melodramatic today?"

"Argh! Just go away."

"What if I don't want to?"

"I'll tell Ranger about that time when I caught you and a girl in HIS office." I knew it was childish but at this time I didn't care.

"You wouldn't!"

"Try me."

He hurried out of the office and slammed the door shut. I groaned and noticed that my searches were finished, I sent the information via email to Ranger and headed for the elevator.

* * *

I walked out of the elevator to the seventh floor and was greeted home by a delicious scent coming from the kitchen. I walked there and saw Ella standing in the kitchen, doing the dishes while there was something in the oven. She saw me and hurried and dried her hands.

"Oh, I'm sorry miss. I didn't know you would come home this soon. I can leave.."

"No stay. It's good to have some company while Ranger's out of town." I said and sat my purse down on the kitchen counter.

"Hey, let me help you with the dishes"I said and grabbed the towel and started to dry the plates that was already washed. I saw that Ella tried to object. "I insist."

So she washed the plates and I dried them and put them back to their places. We were just finished with the dishes when Ella remembered something.

"Oh, miss. There was a flower delivery for you today. I put them into the living room." she said as she was wiping the surfaces clean. I thanked her and walked into the living room and saw a beautiful flower arrangement on the table. I smiled and wondered how much this had cost to Ranger. There were all my favorite flowers, roses and lily's. A card was tied to it. I was still smiling when I took the card in my hand.

_"Bonjour, chérie!_  
_Long time since last, can wait to get my hands on you_  
_How did you know I love to play hide-and-seek?_  
_- P"_

All went black and I crashed down to the floor.

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What do you think? Please review :)

Next chapter might take some time since I don't have an outkast ready as I had to these earlier.


	7. Chapter 7

Here's chapter 7. It's quite short as I decided to remove a part of it that I wasn't pleased with.

Thank you for the reviews, it's good to know that you think that I write good.

Not mine, no money for me

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**Steph's POV**

"Stephanie! Do you hear me?" Somebody was shaking me. I opened my eyes and looked up in Tank's concerned eyes. I saw that Ella and Lester was standing a few steps behind him and Lester was talking in the phone. You didn't have to be a rocket scientist to figure out who he was talking to.

"Are you okey?" Tank asked me with his hand on my shoulder gently squeezing it.

"I'm fine. Let me talk to him." I said to him.

Tank and Lester exchanged a glance and then Lester gave me the phone. I got up and sat down on the couch. I was still a bit shaky in my legs and I felt a little nauseous. I couldn't believe that Pierre knew where I stayed.

"Hey Babe. How're you feeling?"

"Shake-y and scared." I decided to be honest with him. I saw that Ella ushered Lester and Tank to the kitchen.

"I know honey, I know. I'm coming home with the next flight."

"Okey. I love you." I was no use in fighting him.

"Te amo. Be careful." He hung up on me.

I walked slowly to the kitchen. Ella had made tea and gave me a cup. I sat down and took a cookie from the jar.

"Ranger's coming home."

"We know. Do you have anything you have to do today?" Tank asked me.

"I thought that I would go down to the office and check on the girls. I don't think that he would attack me in the middle of the day with people there."

"You're right. I guess that's okey just be careful." Tank said and hugged me. I was surprised by this but hugged him back anyways.

I was alone when they left. I changed clothes and when I looked in the mirror I realized that I was wearing full RangeMan outfit. Black t-shirt and pants and a SEAL-cap and I grabbed my hand bag and a set of car keys. I rode the elevator to the garage and beeped the key. The lights to the black Porsche blinked and I jumped in.

I was so deep in thought that I almost drived past the office. I found a parkingspace, locked the car and walked into the office.

Lula was laying on the couch and Connie was holding her head in her hands and groaned. I smiled a little and thanked God that things weren't as bad for me as well.

"Hey."

Mumbled groans was heard.

"Thing's that bad?"

"Oh yes. I have the mother of a headache and I have had three pills already." Connie said to me.

"I can't do my filing because I can't think." Lula said from the couch.

* * *

I made my way to the car after I had talked to the girls and promised that we should do this again sometime, but that time we dont let Lula near the drinks.  
My phone rang just as I was starting the car at the parkingspace. I picked it up and my blood froze.

"Hello, Love! Why did you ran away? It bothers me that you told your boyfriend about me. I guess I have to punish you. Maybe even let him watch… Oh man I have huge plans for you. See you soon, chérie. Oh and I love it when a woman drives a expensive car. It makes me..."

I hung up on him, throwing my phone to the back seat. His voice made me sick and I hit the brakes even though the car wasn't moving. I was hyperventilating and I was squeezing the wheel so hard that my chuckles went white. Oh my God, how did he know my number? And what car I was driving. Oh my God! I had to lean my head on the steering wheel as I thought about what to do next. I knew I couldn't drive in this condition and besides that would be dangerous as he knew my car, and I had promised not only the guys but Ranger too. I locked the doors and climbed to the back seat after my phone. My hands were shaking as I dialed Ranger's number. I curled up to a ball in the back seat as I waited for him to pick up. After two dials he answered.

"Yo."

"Where are you?" even I could hear the terror in my voice. I closed my eyes and prayed that he was in Trenton already.

"At the garage. Just arrived. Why? Where are you?" he sounded considered.

"In the back seat of the Porsche. Could you pick me up?" I told him the address.

"Stay there and don't open the doors to anybody except me."

The wait was horrific. I was a nervous wreck and jumped at every sound.I hadn't been this afraid since Paris. After what seemed like eternity I heard a knock on the door. I was terrified that it was Pierre and I didn't have the courage to look outside the window. I held my breath.

"It's me Babe. Open the door." I started to breath again and reached my hand out to unlock the door. Ranger opened the door and stepped in.

"Lock the door." I said to him and he did. I guess my face showed my horror.

"What happened?" he pulled me into a hug and brushed my hair out of my face. It felt wonderful to have his hands on my face, it was like a part of me was missing and I hadn't realised it.

I told him the story and saw his eyes harden. He held me with one of his arms and made a call with the other. I didn't want to hear what he said so I just leaned in and pressed my face to his shoulder and thought about happy things like Ranger. I was glad to have him here with me, it felt right.

I noticed that he had stopped talking because the other arm snuck around my waist, hugging me tighter.

"Babe, I missed you so much."

"I missed you to. I couldn't sleep properly when you weren't there to chase the nightmares away."

"About nightmares, you gave me almost a heartattac when you disappeared the night after your girls-night-in."

"It wasn't my fault. I couldn't sleep in them because Ella had changed the sheets and they didn't smell like you anymore." I felt him chuckle.

"I love you so much, mi querida. Now let's get you back home." I liked the way he said home, it made me all warm and fuzzy inside.

Ranger climed to the drivers seat and started to drive to the building. After a while I climbed to the front seat. Ranger glanced at me and smiled. I smiled back to him. His eyes were not hard anymore, they were soft and kind. The eyes he had when he looked at me. The look that made me melt a little. But I saw a hint of worry in his face too.

"Don't worry about me." I said to him and made him smile.

"How can't I? I love you with all of my heart and the only thing in the world I'm afraid of is loosing you. You have no idea how hard the flight to Paris was. All these worst-case scenarios went through my head. I.. I just don't want to loose you, Babe."

"You're not going to loose me."

He was silent and so was I. I knew exactly what he was talking about. My biggest fear wasn't Pierre, it was the thought of loosing Ranger. He drove to the garage and we stepped out of the car. He took my hand as we walked to the elevator and threw a arm around me when we rode up to seventh floor. Ranger led my way to the living room and sat me down on the couch.

"You sure you're okey?" he asked me and when I nodded he kissed me. It was way better than I remembered and before I knew he had me pinned down on the couch with him on top. The kiss blew my breath away but I threw my hands around his neck and moaned to his mouth. His hands roamed my body and I started to unbutton his shirt.

"You sure about this?" he asked me when he broke the kiss.

"Yes." He kissed me again and soon we were both in our underwear's. He broke the kiss and lifted me out of the couch and into his arms.

"Time to take this to the bedroom, babe."

* * *

A few hours later we layed on the bed in each others arms feeling better than ever. I kissed his shoulder and snuggled closer. He kissed the top of my head and started to play with one of my curls. It felt like home.  
We desided to have a sleep in morning next day and I fell asleep in his arms feeling satisfied and safe.

* * *

I woke up by Ranger placing small kisses on my collarbone.

"Good morning."

I smiled at him and saw that he had taken a shower already. The idea of a shower was wonderful so I kissed him and made my way to the bathroom. After I was finished I put on a white top and my hot pants. I smelled that Ranger had made coffee and hurried to the kitchen. I stopped at the bedroom door and looked into the kitchen.

Ranger was wearing nothing but boxers and I could see that he had made the whole breakfast. I saw that he was just pouring coffee. He turned around and saw me. His eyes went dark.

"Hey babe. Nice outfit."

"Thought you might like it." I smiled at him and made my way to the kitchen. Ranger kissed me and started to play with the top's straps.

"I like it but I would love it if it was on the bedroom floor. Or the kitchen floor, hell any floor!"

His phone rang. I saw that he battled with the choice of answering it.

"Just answer the goddamn phone."

He smiled at me and picked up the phone. His face went all serious and I knew that he had work to do. I placed a kiss on this chest and walked to the coffee machine and poured me a cup. At the same time I was wondering what he had to do this time. Save the world maybe? Invade a small country? Save kittens from a tree?

"Babe. The guys found a lead on Pierre. The florist regongnized him as Aaron Cavalier and that he was french. We have his address. We're going down to finish this so that we can move along with our lives."

"Be careful." Was the only thing I could say to him.

"You to. Don't do anything stupid. Love you!"

I was left alone when he disappeared to the elevator.

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Please review :)

**23 January 2011**

**I don't know how many of you have read my profile, but I thought it would be good to tell you guys here too. So, I broke my finger and it's in plaster which makes typing really hard so I have to take a small break from writing this story. I also have a "test-week" coming ( literally 6 days of test in different subjects) so I have to study to that too. I'm really sorry about this, I really am. The plaster is coming of 2 Feb. but my test-week ends the ninth, and if everything goes according to plan that week-end I'll post 1-2 chapters, at least I hope so. :)  
**


	8. Chapter 8

I'm so sorry! I had trouble with the writing and couldn't get the chapter posted. I have the next week off, so I'll try to get something posted.

This chapter is one of those in between chapter, there's action but it's quite short. Hopefully you like it.

Lovin' the reviews, keep them up?

Not mine, no money for little me

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**Ranger POV**

My steps were heavy as I walked towards my men who were waiting for me at the cars. Their expressions matched mine, we were all serious and quiet. This was it, Pierre was going to pay for what he had done. Steph wasn't still alright, she'd toss and turn in the bed every night even though I was there. Guess it was the stress that he hadn't been caught yet, but thankfully that was coming to an end. I sighed as I reached them.  
"The address the florist gave us is five blocks south from here. Hal has been monitoring the house. Somebody is inside but we can't tell if it's him." Tank was handing out radios. All the men nodded and moved to their cars. I stepped into mine and Tanks. I was driving and leading this operation, but I was thankful for Tank doing all the talking. My brain was occupied with thoughts of everything but mostly Steph, alone at home but I trusted that she wouldn't get into trouble.

I pulled out of the garage and sped out on the street. Tank was quiet but it wasn't an uncomfortable silence. I glanced at the watch, 10.29.

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11.13

We had been monitoring the house for a while now. There was a man inside who looked like he was getting ready to go out. My thoughts were alarmingly distracted as I thought about the woman waiting foe me back at home. These feeling were new and strange to me, I haven't felt this way even with my ex-wife. It seemed like my world didn't just evolve around the job, it evolved around Babe. Like I was breathing and living just to make her happy and the thought of marriage didn't seem like an impossible thing anymore. Hell, why not even babies? The thought of a little me and a little Babe running around the house made me smile. I was certain about this now, I wanted to marry that woman, but the problem was that I had told her that I'm not the marrying type. She would think that I had lied to her and she wouldn't trust me anymore. I had to think how I'm going to break this to her.

My thoughts were cut of as a man stepped out of the front door. He didn't look like I had imagined that he would look like. Quite skinny and it looked like he wouldn't be able to pick up a pebble yet alone women. He had dirty clothes and he hadn't shaved in days. He walked quickly to the car and pulled out of the driveway. I waited a moment and then drove after him putting a few cars between us but not letting him out of my sight. Million thoughts raced in my head. This was it. The end to this horror story, was it now the time for a happy ending?

He drove to the market a mile away. We pulled up next to him and confronted him when he came out of the car.

"What the hell man?" he shouted as he realised that he was surrounded.

"Are you Aaron Cavalier?" I asked him.

"What the hell are you talking about? I'm Jimmy Morrales."

A horrible feeling started to rise.

"Is this your car?"

"As if. A weird french guy gave me 200 dollar if I drove from his house here. I should never had taken this job..."

My worst fear came true. I turned around and raced to the car.

"Somebody get someone up to seventh floor!" Tank was already calling and hopped inside the car. I sped of the parking lot and drove like maniac towards the house. Why was it that every time you had no time to waste there was a slow driver in front of you? I drove with no regards for the law, my only thought was to get to seventh floor. Tank was still talking on the phone. He looked at me with a fearful expression.

"Seventh floor is empty. No signs of struggle or anything unnormal exepct of a note on the fridge door."

"What does it say?"

"It's from Steph.

_Going for a run, _

_Love you -S"_

My heart stopped.

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Reviews?


	9. Chapter 9

**Here's Chapter nine! :)**

**This chapter includes actions that might upset some readers, so please be careful. **

**Loving the reviews, you are giving me the inspiration to continue.**

**Not mine, not makin' money**

* * *

Steph POV

My throat was burning. It was dryer than Sahara on a summer day at noon. And my head throbbed, I thought that my brain was trying to get out of my head. I felt that I was laying on something hard and cold and my hands were lifted to the sides of my head. I felt oddly exposed and couldn't remember what had happened. All I remember was that a man dressed in all black came to seventh and told me that there was a major danger in the house and that I needed to come with him. I realized now that he wasn't a RangeMan.

I tried to open my eyes but even with my eyes open I couldn't see anything. The room I was in was dark and cold and to my horror I realized that I was naked. And tied to the surface I was laying on. I struggled against the ropes that bind me but they didn't move, only cut into my wrists and ankles. A single tear rolled down my cheek as I thought how foolish I had been, believing a stranger. I remembered entering the elevator and wondering about the danger. The next thing I know was that he had injected me with something and that my consciousness was slipping away. Dammit! I was such an idiot! Ranger told me to stay and I didn't.

The thought of Ranger made my eyes water. Oh, I might not see him again and I hadn't told him that I loved him and that I didn't care if he didn't want to get married. All that matter was that I was with him. Oh and my family! I might not have pineapple upside-down cake with my family, see Lisa grow up, laugh at grandma or hug my mom again. I wouldn't see Lula or Connie again, not even fight with Joyce. My heart ached as I thought about my life. I hadn't really done anything. I hadn't left a mark in the world. I hadn't given my parents any grandchildren. Here, laying in the dark my biological clock was ticking harder than ever and for the first time I didn't care about the poop or the screaming or the fact that the baby would come out of my doodah, I just wanted to hold a little Ranger in my hands, protecting him from the world. A sob escaped my mouth.

Suddenly the lights were switched on and I went blind. After my eyes had adjusted to the light I could see that I was in a some kind of garage and tied to a table. And I were right about the nakedness. There was a working table on my right side and a closet on the left side. A door behind my legs. Other than that the room was empty. I was all alone.

* * *

Ranger POV

I was beyond furious but above that I was scared. I was pacing in the office and all of my men were working hard on locating Steph. They were typing on their computers and running from room to room but making no progress. I had a bad feeling about this and it seemed like my heart wasn't beating. It felt like I couldn't breath and I felt nauseous. This was worse than anything I had experienced before in my life, this was beyond any torture I had had. I couldn't take this much longer, I wanted to have my babe back with me, to tell her everything she wanted too. I didn't want to have secrets anymore, I just wanted her. The agony of not knowing was killing me painfully.

"We'll find her, boss"

I hadn't even noticed that Tank had came up to me. I was so distracted that it could kill me, if the pain didn't. I looked at him, pleading with my eyes. He looked crushed and put a hand on my shoulder.

"We're getting there. It won't take much longer."

I simply nodded at him, not trusting my voice. I glanced at my watch. It had been two hours.

* * *

Steph POV

I had no sense of time. I could have been laying there for minutes, hours or even days without knowing. Totally alone in the garage. I had tried to loosen the ropes with no luck. Anger had replaced the sadness, and I was starting to get annoyed at who ever kidnapped me. As soon as I thought that the door opened and Pierre stepped inside.

"Bonjour, mon cherie." he said with a twisted smile. He was dressed in all black but he wasn't the guy who had come to seek me. He walked slowly towards me and stopped at the end of the table.

"I have missed you. You ran away before I got to work my magic on you. Shame on you. But now I am going to make you pay the price of running away."

He started to move towards my head, running his hand on my leg and stomach finally resting it on my breast.

"So pretty." he said still smiling and moved on. He traced the same path on the other side, stopping at my feet, admiring them. He laughed softly before moving to the working table. He was humming, taking his time looking at what ever he had on the table. I couldn't see what he had on the table but I doubted it was something nice.

After a while he picked a small knife in his hand. Raw fear flooded through me and over powered the anger. This guy wasn't the one you wanted to have a knife. The panicked woman's cry in Paris, rang in my ears. She had probably had some one-on-one time with this maniac.

"Have you ever noticed how sensitive your feet are? Especially the foot soles?" he smiled at me as he moved to my feet. I tried to move them but had no luck with that.

"Shh, cherie! Don't worry, It'll only hurt a long, long time."

He put the knife against my right soles and cut.

* * *

Ranger POV.

I was pretty sure that I was dying. Out of the blue I felt a piercing pain rip through my heart forcing me to my knees. I grabbed my shirt as I tried to breath. Tank rushed through the door and was soon by my side. He forced me to lay on my back.

"Boss?" His voice was panicky.

"I'm fine. It was Babe. Tell me you found her. Please, Tank."

I didn't use the work "please" often. In fact never to anyone but Babe.

"A few minutes more and then we'll be on the way."

Another wave of pain washed over me.

"Hurry."

* * *

Steph POV.

The pain was beyond anything I'd felt before. It felt like amputating my legs with out anesthesia would be less painfully. My legs were on fire and I didn't feel so good. I must have loss a lot of blood, so many slices he had made, finally stopping after an eternity. I could see that he was excited, so excited that his pants were way to small. I had a sick feeling in my stomach. He was picking another weapon from the table. I didn't know how much longer I could take this.

He walked towards me with another knife in his hand. This was different, it looked like it was home made. It looked deadly sharp and lethal in his hands. He made a small chuckle as he rested the knife on my thigh.

"Have you notice how sensitive your inner thighs are? Especially under a man's touch. But I guess you have never had the pleasure of experiencing a real man's touch."

As he was talking he traced the knife on my thigh, creating a small path of blood.

"Better be careful, don't want you to die before I'm finished."

* * *

Ranger POV

The pain was excruciating but I was still moving through the garage towards my car. The other men were running to their cars, pulling out on the street. They had figured out where he was hiding with her. I jumped in my car and seconds later Tank hopped in. I sped of the office and ignored all traffic laws, my only thought was Babe. My anger was going through the roof and I was gripping the wheel so hard that my chuckles were turning white.

I passed the others and was the first one to pull up on the curb outside an abandoned building on the outside of town. I saw that a black SUV was parked behind a dumpster. I was on my way out of the car but Tank pulled me inside.

"WHAT?"

"Calm down. I know you want to rush inside but that wont do us no good. You'll get shoot. We need a plan."

I realized that he had a point so we huddled around the hood of Lester's car. Hal had gotten the blueprints so we knew our way in the building.

"He's probably holding her here" Tank said and pointed at the garage which was located underneath the ground in the middle of the building. "No noise would be heard. There's a closet on this side and a door on this. The closet has a door from this room, so three guys go in from this door and three from this one. The rest will remain here and wait for us. Secure the rest of the property and get a car ready so we can evacuate Steph."

I had insisted that we didn't call the paramedics. I believed that Bobby and his assistant's would be enough, I didn't want this to be the main gossip tomorrow. Babe wouldn't like that. Infact I had built a miniature hospital on fourth. It had all the high-tech machines, and I doubted that the hospital in Trenton even had all of those. As soon as I met Babe I have been planning on it and even got Bobby to train a few guys to help him. Babe was always getting hurt and I wanted to help her as good as I could. I knew how much babe hated to be the star of the gossip.

Tank led the team going through the closet and I the team going through the door. Lester and Hal were right behind me in the stairwell. We tip-toed down behind the door. Muffled voices were heard.

"I love to hear you scream, bitch. Ranger ain't coming for you, no matter how hard you scream."

I heard Babe give a blood curdling scream and my instincts kicked in and I bursted through the door.

Babe was laying on a metal table naked and tied up. I saw a lot of blood. Pierre was standing beside her with a knife but before he could do anything I had shot him. Lester and Hal rushed to secure him, but my only thoughts were her.

I ran to her and cut all the ropes. She was breathing heavily and I was horrified by how hurt she was. There was blood _everywhere_! I heard that Tank was organizing for her to move to the house and informing Bobby about the wounds. Her eyes were closed but she was conscious. She squeezed my hand.

"It's okay, Babe. It's all over, we're going to be fine."

She smiled at me, still with her eyes closed.

"I love you Carlos." she whispered. I smiled and squeezed her hand.

"I love you too, Stephanie."

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**Reviews? :)**


	10. Chapter 10

**Here's chapter ten for you guys! **

**Thank you so very much for the kind reviews, I appreciate them_ soooo_ much!**

**Okay, I have to tell you guys this; I was shopping yesterday and my sister and I were in this cosmetics shop and as we were leaving guess what caught my eye? Bvlgari shower gel for men. I swear my heart stopped. She had to tear me away from it.  
**

**Not mine, not making any money**

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_"I love you too, Stephanie"_

Steph POV_  
_

Even though I was laying on the table of death I was surrounded by a feeling of peace. I could still hear the guys and the noise they made but that didn't bother me. Ranger had taken his jacket of, as did Tank, and they had covered me. I was warm and I couldn't wipe the stupid smile of my face. He had come. He had answered my prayers and had rescued me from this hell hole. A small tear escaped my eyes and I felt his thumb wipe it off.

"Are you in great pain?" he asked me and I shook my head no. And I wasn't lying. I didn't feel the injuries, all I could feel was his hand in mine, warm and gentle, comforting me.

Someone gave me some pain medicine, morphine I guess and soon I drifted to dream land.

* * *

Ranger POV

As soon as she was asleep and drugged Tank came with a gurney and we helped her on it. I didn't let go of her hand, as it seemed to calm her. To be honest it calmed me too. After the agonizing hours I had to remind myself that this wasn't over yet. I had to take care of my babe and then I had to take care of the filth Lester had in his car.

Even though I had shot Pierre, he was still alive. Not in top condition but alive. Not for very long, though. I had magnificent plans for him and I wasn't going to stop before I was sure that I had revenged babe. And she couldn't be revenged.

Hal and Tank carried the gurney to our car and into the modified back. This car was modified so that it held a gurney and two sitting with the patient. They got her on, then I got in and sat besides her. Hal hung up the blood bag and closed the doors. Tank was driving, driving evenly but still as fast as he could.

The drive seemed to go on and on, but finally we got to the office. I was still holding her hand, comforting her and me. Bobby opened the doors and his assistants Carl and Tommy rushed her to the fourth floor.

The entire floor was white and clean. When you stepped out of the elevator you were in a small sitting area with three chairs and a large brown sofa. A table was in the middle with many magazines and a flower arrangement. An original art work made by Claude Monet was hanging above the sofa. I had gotten that because I knew that babe liked his art.

Behind the sitting area was a small desk and file cabinet, containing all RangeMan staff's medical information. Babe had a whole drawer to herself. The desk was over crowded with papers and files. A phone and computer was sitting on the desk too. Behind the desk, sat Olivia, a nurse that I had hired. She was also Lester's sister. She was quite petite and had big blue eyes and blond hair. She was good at what she did and was always on a good mood. I had hired her for two reasons. One, because babe might not always want to have Bobby examining her and two, because Lester wouldn't stop bothering me if I didn't. She was talking on the phone with someone as we rushed past her. She hung up and followed us.

The floor had one emergency room, two patient rooms, two rooms with machines and a cafeteria. The smaller patient room was occupied, as Frank recovered from a five story fall. We rushed babe to the emergency room and when they got her to the table, we were ushered out. As soon as I, Tank and Hal were outside the door, it was locked.

"It's for her own good." they had said and I trusted them enough to let it happen. But that didn't mean that I was happy. No, I was beyond worried, stressed and angry. I wanted to go down to the cells? and kick some french ass, but I couldn't tear myself away from her. I paced outside the door and watched as Tank and Hal walked to the sitting area. Some of the others were sitting there, all waiting for some news. As I walked up and down the hall I noticed that the guys were staring at me. I didn't have the heart to force them back to work, as I myself couldn't. Besides the work would be sloppy as they couldn't focus.

I walked up and down the hall, over and over again every now and then glancing at my watch. She had been inside for over an hour now. My stress was over the moon as I paced. The sitting area was packed with employees, all of them watching me as I walked. The tension was so intence that you could slice it with a knife.

As I was walking back towards the door I had made the decisions to force myself into the room. As I reached for the door handle it was opened and Bobby stepped outside, closing the door behind him.

"She's fine for now." he answered my unspoken question.

The relief was so hard that I felt my knees give in. As I sat there on the floor I couldn't help but to laugh. Or cry, I didn't care enough to make the difference. My babe was fine! I was filled with so much happiness that I thought I might burst. She was going to make it. My hands were shaking and I struggled to my feet. I hugged Bobby, thanking him for what ever he had done.

"Can I see her?"

"Yes, but be careful, she's still unconscious."

I followed him inside the emergency room. Step was laying on a bed heavily bandaged and bruised. She was hooked up to many machines and she seemed so tiny. Olivia was writing something on her medical file and excused her self as we entered. Bobby patted me on my back and left me alone with her. I sat down on a chair beside her bed and took her hand in mine. Tears escaped my eyes and I rested my head on our hands. I was exhausted by this day. I had gone through every emotion that was and I needed the peace and quiet. I sat there for God knows how long, until we were interrupted by Bobby knocking on the door and entering.

"Let's move her to the patient room. I have set up a bed for you too, as I can imagine that you're tired. I also arranged Ella to bring you some food."

I looked at him and smiled. It amazed me that he knew exactly what I wanted. I got up and together we pushed her to her room. The guys had left with the exception of Tank. As soon as he saw us he got up and followed us.

The second patient room was a large, open room with large windows made out of bulletproof glass. The walls were painted with a light blue and another Monet was hanging on the wall against the bed. A small bathroom with shower was in the corner and there was a small bed underneath the window, made just for me. We pushed her bed to it's place and hooked her up to the machines. As Bobby checked her, Tank pulled me aside.

"Get some rest, boss. You look like a living dead. I'll stay outside in the sitting area, just to be on the safe side. You'll be safe here."

I thanked him and watched them leave. I made sure she was as comfortable as she could be and sat down on the bed. Thank God, she was okay. I promised myself that this wouldn't happen again. As long as she was with me, she wouldn't get hurt again.

I sat there for a half an hour, just watching her breath. The long day begun to take it's toll on me and I fell asleep listening to her breathing.

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**Reviews? :) Pretty please?**


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11. **

**Love the reviews, thank you for your support! :)**

**not mine, not making any money.**

* * *

Steph POV

I was certain that I was sleeping. I got to be that way. This wasn't real, I told myself. Fake, fake, fake as Joyce. As fake as Joe's love was. Fake as Dickie's secretary's hair colour. Real fake.

In the dream I was in Ranger's apartment, laying on the bed. Alone. I glanced at the watch, 2.31 AM but someone was at the door. I stood up and realized that I was wearing a evening gown, long and blue. It showed a lot of cleavage and had a open back. But the weird part was that I was pregnant. I couldn't see my feet so I assumed that it was the last weeks of pregnancy. I wobbled to the door and opened it.

Grandma was behind the door, wearing a hot pink bathing suit. She looked at me and walked into the apartment.

"Grandma?" I asked and wobbled after her. She walked to the bed and climbed into it and fell asleep. I stood there puzzling over this weird scenario as the door to the bathroom was opened and an old man stepped into the bedroom. He was darker than my grandpa had been and taller. He seemed to notice me, standing by the door.

"Danielle? What are you standing there for?" he asked me and shook his head. "You shouldn't be walking around with the baby."

Danielle? What was going on? This dream was very weird and it got weirder by the minute.

"Who are you?" I asked the man. He laughed at my question.

"I'm your father, Danielle."

I frowned at him.

"No, my name is Stephanie, not Danielle."

"That's your mother's name, silly. Your name's Danielle Manoso, daughter to Stephanie and Carlos Manoso. Daughter to us." He pointed at himself and Grandma.

What the..? I turned around to look at a mirror. The whole living room wall was covered in mirrors.

A small pregnant woman stared back at me. She was older than I was but had my hair and body shape, and her eyes was definitely Carlos'. The skin colour was a little darker too. She was more beautiful than I had ever seen, she outshone even him.

...

Man, I got to tell Bobby never to give me this medicine again.

* * *

My dream changed. This time I was back in the garage but Pierre was gone, instead it was Joe who was picking knives. The funny thing was that Joe was dressed in a clown costume. He had multicoloured pants that were at least three sizes to big for him and a pink, curly wig. His shoes were in bright blue and they too were too large for him. For shirt he had a tiny t-shirt and the text "marry me" was written in large, bold letters.

As if this wasn't weird enough, I saw that there was a large teddy bear in the corner. I recognized it to be the bear Joe had won in a amusement park two years ago. It looked at me with it's hollow eyes.

"You have to marry me, Stephanie!" It whispered to me and I swear it was Lester's voice.

I glanced back at Joe but he had disappeared and the room started to fill with engagement rings. The noise was enormous ant the rings kept on coming. Soon I had to gasp for air as they started to weight me down. Lester's voice was ringing in my ears.

"Marry me, marry me, marry mee..."

With the last effort I emerged from the sea of rings.

Now I was laying in a hospital bed. The room was painted in light blue and a painting by Claude Monet was hanging from the opposite wall. A small bed was positioned underneath a large window and Carlos was sleeping on it. He was dressed in work clothes and had his shoes on. This puzzled me more than anything.

The bed I was laying in was surprisingly comfortable and soft. The sheets were clean with the exception of red stains that I didn't even want to think about. An irritating noise was heard from a monitor besides me and I had one of those very annoying tubes up my nose. I tried to lift my arm to take it away but couldn't find the strength to do so. This was way to painful to be a dream. I sighed.

"Babe?"

"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't want to wake you."

"Don't be, I'm glad to be awake with you." he said to me and moved to the chair. He looked tired and hadn't shaved for what looked like few days. He had slept in his clothes so they were wrinkly and his hair was all over the place but I liked it.

"What happened? How long have I been asleep? What happens now? Where's Pierre? Are everybody alright?"

"Babe, slow down." he said to me with a chuckle. He took a deep breath.

"We rescued you from Pierre yesterday, so you've been out for about 24 hours. Pierre is held in the basement for further... events, everybody are fine just worried about you. Now, all you have to do is to get better."

I let the information sink in for a while.

"How bad is it?"

"You have got a lot of injuries, most of them in your feet. Bobby said earlier that he didn't think it would be wise for you to be walking any time soon. Your soles are sown back together. You have also a lot of cuts in your thighs, abdomen and.. breast's." He struggled to talk and I could see that he was shaken up, to say the least. I reached for his hand and squeezed it gently.

"It's going to be fine." As he started to disagree, I stopped him. "Eventually... As cliche as it sounds all that matters is you and the fact that we're together in this mess. I mean if that's what you want..."

I looked away from him, as I thought about the possibility of him not agreeing with me. The thought alone was crushing and I blinked away some tears. I felt his hand on my cheek, forcing me to look at him.

"Babe, my world was nothing before that day I saw you at Vinnie's. You lit up my day's and made me want you in every way night that wee shared was so amazing, different form anything I have ever experienced. I love you Stephanie and the thought of leaving you is impossible! It pains my heart that you think that I don't want you, I want you, all of you. My greatest fear is that you leave me. Yesterday was the most difficult day in my life, the thought of never seeing you again crushed me totally! The relief to know that you're going to be okay again brought me to my knees. You are the best thing that's happened to me, don't you ever doubt it Stephanie Plum! I love you and I'm going to keep on saying that to you every day."

I blinked away my tears. The tone of his voice was new to me, it had a new layer of love and passion. And I believed him. No second thoughts, no questions. I loved him too.

"I love you Carlos with all of my heart and that won't never change. My life too was changed the day I saw you. All my memories that involved you, our memories, kept me alive. My every thought is about you and when we are apart I can't think anymore. I love you._ I love you._"

He smiled at me and then, finally, he kissed me. It started of as soft and sweet but deepened towards the end. He leaned his forehead against mine and sighed. It was a happy sigh.

We talked for a while and when I began to feel tired he moved his bed so that we laid together, our hands still inter twined.

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**Reviews? :) What do you think? And most importantly, what should I do with Pierre?**

_PS. The shower gel smelled like heaven, I couldn't wipe away my idiot smile after that. :)_**  
**


	12. Chapter 12

**Here's chapter 12!**

**Thank you for your reviews and helping me write this story!  
**

**In the next chapter something will happen to Pierre. I've read your suggestions and come to the conclusion that you are a very sick bunch. But I love you anyways :)**

not mine, not making money.

* * *

Steph POV

When I woke up Carlos was gone. I ran my hand through his bed, found his pillow and brought it against my chest, hugging it tightly. I smiled and drifted back to sleep.

The next time I woke up was because somebody was talking outside the door. I tried to go back to sleep but couldn't. I sighed and sat up against my pillows still hugging Carlos' pillow. I looked at the clock hanging above the Monet. 9.12 AM. I had been awake for a couple of minutes and was already bored out of my mind and in desperate need to use the bathroom. I didn't want to bother who ever was talking outside but I really needed to go! I lifted my covers and looked for the first time at my legs.

The view wasn't pretty. My legs from the soles to my ankles was bandaged and so was my thighs. I could only see my knees and they too were bruised. I pushed the covers away to take a closer look. Still hugging his pillow I swung my right leg out of the bed. The left leg followed soon after. Now I was sitting on the bed but my legs didn't touch the floor. I felt a dull ache in my legs but decided to push it away. I was determined to go to the bathroom by myself, I wasn't a baby who needed help. My plans were crushed when I carefully put one foot on the floor. A shooting pain blinded me and I think I might have yelled because men wearing black rushed into the room with Bobby and Lester leading. With black dots hovering in my sight I was pushed back to the bed and covered all again.

As the fuss was over and the guys were certain that there was no killer in the bathroom, I was left alone with Bobby and Lester. Lester sat on Carlos' bed and holding my hand as Bobby did his doctor-thing.

"Hey, Beautiful. How are you feeling?"

"Tired." I glanced at him and decided that I could tell him. "And I really need to go to the bathroom."

Lester just looked at Bobby who nodded. Then he picked me up and carried me to the bathroom with Bobby following with my IV. They got me in the bathroom and with instructions to try to keep my feet from carrying my weight, they left me alone to do my thing.

When I was done they came back and carried me to the bed. When Bobby was sure that I was okay, he left and I was with Lester. He was sitting on Ranger's bed and gently stroking my hair. This gesture didn't feel degrading but soothing. It calmed both of us and we fell into comfortable silence.

"How's he?" I asked him after a while, breaking the silence.

"Worried. And stressed, angry and relived." he answered me immediately knowing who I was talking about. "And in love."

"How do you know that?" I asked him and felt my face get redder.

"Relax." he chuckled at my face and laid down, searching for the pillow. He looked around and saw that I was hugging the pillow and smiled at me. I smiled back but refused to give him the pillow. He laughed.

"I can tell that he loves you because, I've been with him all these years. He's a changed man, beautiful. He cares deeply about you. You should have seen him the day you were missing. I swear that guy was going through hell. I have never seen him so upset, never in all these years. He loves you." he stated simply looking at the ceiling. Then he looked at me and smiled.

"And you love him too."

"I do." I answered to him.

"But not as much as I love you." I said lightening the mood. He laughed and stood up. He ruffled my hair and said that he had to get back to work as Ranger would kick his ass if he didn't.

"And I have such a gorgeous ass, don't I?"

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Lester POV

I had been on the floor just to say hey to my sister and just as I was on my way out I heard Steph scream. Instincts kicked in and I ran to her room, closely followed by Bobby. We crashed into the door frame and stopped for a second to look at the scene. Beautiful was sitting on the bed with her foot on the floor. Her face showed in how much agony she was in and it took me a second to realize that there was no murderer in the corners, she had just put some weight on her foot. I rushed over with Bobby to get her back to the bed. I pulled the covers on her and started to breath again.

I sat down on the bed that was made for Ranger and looked at her. Her face was still pained and I saw that Bobby gave her some pain medicine. The rest of the guys her screams had alarmed was done checking the room and the bath. I took her hand in mine.

"Hey, Beautiful. How are you feeling?" I asked her.

Obliviously not fine. I was filled with so much anger towards the sick bastard who had done this. No punishment was enough as Steph was going through pain for the following months as her feet healed. And it wasn't written in stone that she would be okay even then. The memories would haunt her for the rest of her life and she might not be the same person again.

"Tired." she answered me and looked around check who was in the room. Then she leaned towards me and whispered. "And I really need to go to the bathroom."

I saw that Bobby smiled a little and nodded to me. I picked her up in my arms and carried her to the bathroom, Bobby following with her IV. We left her alone and sat down on her bed.

"She's going to be fine, isn't she?" I asked Bobby.

"Physically, yes. I don't know about the rest. It's going to take some time for sure."

We sat silent for a while.

"Have you noticed it?" he asked me, breaking the silence.

"What?"

"The way they look at each other."

"Yep. Hopefully they know that too."

We helped her back to her bed and Bobby left me alone with her. I stroked her hair and it seemed to sooth her. I knew that she didn't want to bother us with things like this. She hated to feel helpless and thought she was a burden. She wasn't. There was no one in this building that did feel that way.

"How's he?" she asked after a while. I knew exactly who she meant.

"Worried. And stressed, angry and relived." I answered, naming only few of the emotions that he was going through. He was a wreck. "And in love." I decided to confront her about this.

"How do you know that?" she asked and became red in the face. She looked more beautiful than ever. She lit up every time Ranger was in the room or that someone said his name. It was the same way around.

"Relax." I said and chuckled. I decided that it would be more comfortable laying down and I searched for the pillow. I saw that she was hugging a pillow. No second guessing whose it was. She didn't want to give the pillow to me and I laughed. Man this was way to cute.

I told her the facts and looked at the ceiling. Ranger was really different. He seemed to be more in his own world and smiled a lot more. He had even started to use the small words like "Thanks" and "Please." But the weird thing was that this didn't seem weird. Love looked good on him.  
I looked away from the ceiling and looked at her smiling.

"You love him too."

"I do" she answered to me and I saw that her eyes lit up. They were good for each other. "But not as much as I love you."

I laughed and stood up. At the moment she was her old self. It felt good to know that everything wasn't lost. Only time would tell how she recovered. I ruffled her hair and explained that I had to get back to work.

"And I have such a gorgeous ass, don't I?"

Her laughter followed me as I left. I waved at Olivia and waited for the elevator.

The door's opened and revealed Ranger.

"Speaking of the devil." I said and laughed at his expression.

"What have you done again?" I saw that he smiled.

"Nothin', boss, nothin'. Just rescued your girlfriend."

"What?" he barked at me.

"Relax, no need to get snappy at me. I carried her to the little ladies room." I said and explained the whole story. He relaxed and leaned against the wall.

"The mat's at 0530."

"Yes I know."

It had been worth it.

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**Reviews?**

**More ideas for Pierre?  
**


	13. Chapter 13

**Another chapter for you :) **

**In this one they start to be friendly with Pierre. All the guys are getting a turn and you'll have to wait and see who does what :)**

**I love the reviews and you all so keep typing. Your reviews also give me lots of ideas, so thank you :)**

**Not mine not making money**

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Carlos POV

I couldn't concentrate on anything. My thoughts wondered to the beautiful woman laying on a hospital bed a floor down and I had to rely on that Tank could manage without me for a while. This whole ordeal had forced me to prioritize and I felt confused. For the first time was a woman holding the first place, not work. As much as I wanted to run downstairs to my babe, I had to finish the business first.

The hours slowly ticked by and finally after the last meeting I was free. I checked that Tank was holding up and he urged me to go downstairs as I was "loosing it." I figured that they were right and headed for the elevator. The doors opened and I stepped inside. During the short ride I thought things over. I was a mess and potentially harming the business by my absence. Maybe it was time for me to have a little break, a vacation. I don't know if you can call it a vacation as I was going to spend it on fourth with the love of my life. As I exited the elevator on the fourth floor I rung Tank, confirming my week off. He said that it was for the best and I agreed with him.

The fourth floor was empty. Frank had been discharged yesterday so only babe was a patient here. Olivia was sitting behind the desk, talking on the phone. She waved at me as I walked past her. Bobby was on the field and Tommy was the man in charge. I couldn't see that there was any problems so I just walked to her room and paused at the doorway.

She was asleep with the most peaceful expression I had ever seen. She was laying slightly on her side and was hugging a pillow, which I suspected was mine. I smiled at the sight in front of me and my heart was filled with so much love for her that I thought that I might burst.  
She stirred in her sleep and rolled over to her back.

"Carlos?" Her voice was thick from the sleep and she had her eyes closed. It warmed my heart that she was this comfortable here.

"Yes, I'm here babe. Shh, go back to sleep, querida."

I walked to her bed and took her hand. She seemed to relax and soon she was sound asleep again. I took a spare pillow from the end of my bed and adjusted myself so that I was comfortable. I laid there, just watching her with a stupid smile on my face but I couldn't help it. I was madly in love with this woman and Pierre's journey would start tonight. I was beyond happy as I drifted to dream land.

* * *

Steph POV

When I woke up I was confused. It took a while to grasp where I was but then I remembered the whole thing. I glanced at the watch and realized that it was close to midnight.

I looked at the bed beside me and smiled. Carlos was asleep and still holding my hand and the way our hands fit together seemed like the most natural thing in the world. His hair was messy and his face was so relaxed that he looked ten years younger. His full lips were slightly parted and I leaned in and pressed my lips against his. After a moment he started to kiss me back and I moaned into his mouth. That seemed to only urge him forward and as we parted I struggled to breath.

"That was definitely my favorite way to wake up." he said and I smiled as I heard that he was out of breath too.

"Glad about that." I said and rolled over to my side. The pain was gone thanks to Bobby and I was feeling very comfortable, more now that he was here with me. "I love you."

"I love you more." he answered and brushed my hair behind my ear. We laid there just looking at each other. My stomach broke the silence.

"You're hungry. I'll go get some food." Carlos said and disappeared. After a while he returned with a fruit salad and spaghetti with sauce. I thanked him and dove in. He had brought the fruit salad for him and as I devoured my spaghetti he ate his salad. When I was finished he took the plate and sat in on a small table beside the door. I washed my mouth and relaxed on the bed. He laid down too.

"I'm taking a week off." he said to me.

"Why?"

"Because I can't think when I'm not with you. It's driving Tank mad." he laughed and looked at me. "And I can spend more time with you."

I smiled.

"So, what do you want to do?"

"I don't know. Any ideas?" he answered.

"Can we play ten questions?"

"If you want to." he smiled at my silly game but agreed anyway.

"Okay, so ten questions, one pass. I ask you a question, you answer and then give me a question"

He laughed at my voice and stroke my hair. I smiled sweetly at him.

"I'll start. Hmm, What do you desire most right now?" I asked him.

His eyes darkened and he smiled at me. The look he gave me made my mouth and other parts start to water and I didn't have to guess what the answer would be. He pulled me close to him and kissed me with the passion to lit up a small city. I moaned and threw my hands behind his neck and played with his hair. Oh God, I have missed this, him kissing me like this! He broke the kiss so that we could breath but moved on to kiss my neck and collarbone. I closed my eyes and leaned into him.

"Sorry to bother you but I'm here to give Stephanie her meds."

I felt my face turn red as I realized that we were not alone. Carlos looked up from my chest area and looked who it was. Still holding on to his hair I looked to and saw a very smug looking Bobby and Lester standing at the door. I mean, Bobby looked professional but Lester looked smug.

"Hey beautiful. Stopped to see how you are doing. Nothing to worry about here." he disappeared and we could hear him laughing in the hall.

Bobby smiled and shook his head and checked my IV. He looked like he had just got back from the field and looked tired. He put something in the IV and checked the rest of the monitors. During this I had removed myself from Carlos and was sitting on the bed with my hands crossed. Bobby ruffled my hair and left.

Carlos was smiling at me. I showed him my tongue and hugged his pillow.

"Well, I think I might know the answer to that question." I said and blushed.

He chuckled and sat up to tame my hair. As he didn't have much luck with that I saw that he took a brush out of the top drawer on the bed stand.

"Can you move a little?" he asked me. He sat behind me and started to brush my hair. It felt amazing! nobody except me has brushed my hair since I was like nine or something. This was soothing and I leaned into him. I swear I purred.

"Name a fantasy of yours." he said while brushing my hair. I closed my eyes and enjoyed this.

"Well I would say that the rain has always fascinated me." I answered him and fell silent.

"Interesting" he answered and finished the brushing. He wrapped his arms around me, pulling me closer to him. I breathed in his scent and sighed happily.

"What's the most beautiful place you have visited?" I asked him to keep me from falling asleep.

He was silent for a moment.

" I'll have to say that that would be Isla del Sol. It's a small island in Bolivia. I'd like to take you there someday. My turn. What are you afraid of?"

I thought things over. As a little child I had been afraid of darkness and scary old men but that had passed. "Loneliness." I answered him. He squeezed me tightly to let me know that he wasn't going to leave me.

"Name something that nobody knows about you."

"Once in a while, I love to have a bowl of ice cream. With chocolate sauce." he said to me. "But this stays between you and me. This would ruin my reputation." We laughed at that.

"One last question. It's getting late and you need to get some rest." he said and sighed. It felt like he was nervous about something. "Will you move in with me?"

"Of course I will" I answered to him. I didn't even had to think about it, it only seemed right. Besides I was there almost every night anyways.

"I'm glad that you will." he said and kissed the top of my head. "Now time to get some rest, querida"

"Don't go." I said as he started to move. "Stay."

"As you want." he said and relaxed.

I fell asleep in his arms and with a smile on my face.

* * *

Meanwhile in the basement. Hal POV

I looked at the sick bastard in front of me and smiled. He had been chained to this wall since he had been captured. The bullet wound didn't look so good but the hell I cared. Nobody had given him any food but he did get small amounts of water. Just to keep him alive for the end. He looked up at me as I entered the small and cold room.

"Who are you? What are you doing to me?"

"Me? I'm lucky. Lucky to go first." I glanced at the wood splinters in my hands and walked to him. I had brought Cal with me so that he could hold him while I did my thing. I released his hand and Cal took a grip on it.

"This, scumbag, if the first day of your nightmare." I said as I shoved the wood underneath his nails.

Lucky the room was sound proof.

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**Reviews?**

**I don't know Isla Del Sol but I love the name and it suited my purpose  
**


	14. Chapter 14

**Here's chapter 14 for you :)**

**This is a more 'raw' on so please be careful if you aren't a freak (like me) :)**

**Thank you for the reviews and I'm sorry that it took me this long to update, all kinds of shit has been happening and I've written on a second story, _Brownies for everyone_, too.**

**Not mine, not making any money**

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_Steph POV_

I was wheeled out of the hospital room by Ranger. He had gotten Bobby's approval to let me stay at seventh with him, a decision I liked. I got claustrophobic in the small room. I smiled at Olivia who was at the desk and was wheeled in to the elevator. As soon as the doors closed Ranger turned me so that I was facing him and leaned in to kiss me.

"This is a deja-vu" I said to him earning a kiss and a smile. The doors opened and I was at home again. He wheeled me to the kitchen and poured me a glass of water. I drank it as I watched Ranger watching me.

"So what do you want to do?" he asked me and took my empty glass. I shrugged.

"A movie would be great." He smiled at me and led me to the couch, lifting me gently on it, he then sitting next to me hugging me close. I snuggled closer and sighed. This felt wonderful.

I fell asleep there in his arms, in the middle of ghost busters.

* * *

_In the basement. Cal POV_

I looked at the bastard across the room. He looked worse than last time. I smiled as I approached him. He looked up alarmed by the footsteps. His face was dirty and in pain. Hal had left his splinters where they were. There was blood on the floor.

"Hello again." I said and put the little can on the table. I had Hal with me to hold him still. He took a good grip of him and I opened the can, leaning over him, dripping the acid on his leg. His screams echoed in the small space. The smell of acid burning human flesh filled the room.

* * *

_One week later_  
_Steph PoV_

I woke up in Ranger's bed and felt his arms around me and sighed.

"God morning" he said and hugged me tighter. I smiled. It was a good morning indeed, because today Bobby would change my bandages and let me use crutches instead of the wheel chair. My feet weren't completely healed yet but they were getting better. The other wounds were already almost healed. I turned in the bed and kissed his nose. He smiled at me and kissed me.

"Shower?" he asked me and I nodded. I have been taking showers with him, since I can't walk or shower properly with the bandages. Not that I complain, seeing Ranger in the shower wasn't a bad thing.

After a half an hour of "showering" and showering he carried me to the bed and tossed me a pair of sweatpants and his T-shirt. I put them on and he carried me to the kitchen where he made me a sandwich. We ate quietly. After that he carried me to fourth where Bobby was waiting for me.

I sat on the hospital bed as he changed the bandages and got me my crutches. I thanked him and Ranger walked besides me to the elevator. I soon got the hang of the walking and decided to go run some searches as I hadn't been able to do so in a while. I took the elevator to fifth leaving Ranger on fourth, because he wanted to talk to Bobby.

When I exited the elevator I was met by the guys, Lester in front. They were all happy to see me and so was I. I thanked them and walked to my office with Lester following me. He sat with me as I ran the first search, filling me in on what I had missed while I was gone which wasn't that much. Then he left me alone with the computer.

It was closer to noon when Carlos stepped inside the room, smiling at me working. I smiled back at him and watched him sit next to me and took his hand.

"Hi."

"Hi." he answered and leaned his head against mine. "How are you?"

"I'm better than fine." I answered and smiled at him being concirned. "A bit tired maybe, but I'm happy to be back working." I continued because he would know that anyway.

"Please don't exhaust yourself on your first day." he sighed at me and kissed my forehead. "You know, I've been thinking that maybe we should take a holiday. You know just you and me."

I looked at him and smiled. This was the man of my dreams. I stroked his cheek and watched him close his eyes.

"That sounds wonderful, Carlos." I whispered and kissed him.

"I'm glad that you like it. Is it okay if we leave in a couple of weeks, mi amore?"

"Why wait so long?" I asked him as he hugged me tightly and I breathed in the pure scent of Carlos. I felt him hesitate.

"I have some... business to do before our trip." he sighed and kissed the top of my head and stood up. "I've got some paperwork to do but I'll check in later, querida."

"I love you" I answered and watched him smile.

"Te amo. Take care of my heart, I left it with you." Then he was gone. It took me a while to steady my heartbeat and return to my work.

After a few hours of searches and phone calls I began to feel tired. I rested my head in my hands and searched for my painkillers. My feet were on fire. I searched through my purse. I needed to find them _now_. I felt sick as I turned the purse upside down. Lip gloss, phone, wallet and finally the painkillers. I shook one on my hand and took it just as Carlos walked through the door.

"You okay?" he asked as he took three long steps to lift me in his arms and sat down on the sofa with me in his lap. He stroked my back and I leaned into him.

"Fine." I said but my eyes were watering from the pain.

"I can see that you're not fine, babe. Just tell me." he hugged me tighter.

"My feet hurt." I whispered and closed my eyes and breathed his scent.

"Querida." he said and held me. I could hear him whispering in Spanish to me. I sighed. I was home, finaly after all these years of wandering in the world. He was my home.

* * *

_Basement, Lester PoV_

The sad excuse of life was in horrible condition in the holding cell. Cal had burned him bad, I couldn't see his hand at all. There was holes in him and his clothes were burned. Blood sipped hrough the the remaining of his hands. The light were dim and a small bowl with dirty water were placed on the floor near him. He was shackled to the wall and he hung his head low against his chest. He was breathing heavily and jumped at every sound.

I stood behind the one way mirror with Bobby. He looked grim.

"I want to kill that son of a bitch." he said with clenched teeth.

"Me too but Ranger made us swear that we'll leave that to him."

"Yeah.. Lucky bastard" he said and opened the door. We walked inside and Pierre's head snapped up. The fucker looked even worse up close. Cal had burned his whole face so it was unrecognizable. His eyes stared at us when we walked closer. They were terrified, and so they should be. I leaned against the table and Bobby stood in front of him.

"We thought it would be funnier for everyone if we came here together." I said to him and watched his eyes become, if possible, even more terrified. My voice was calm but I was boiling inside. I wanted to hurt this man and bad.

"Lucky for you we have a doctor here with us. He's going to keep you alive for Ranger. He's very mad, you know? Nobody touches his girl friend. You should be terrified." I said to him while I took my lighter out of my pocket. "I've decided to go first. Do you know that it's horrible to be burned to death? Well as Ranger wants to kill you I'll settle for the next best thing." I said and without a warning I took his other hand and held it above the lighter. He screamed as the flame started to burn his skin and he started to thrash around. Bobby took a hold of him and I smiled, he was going to pay a hard price for touching Steph.

As he fainted I pulled the lighter away. The middle of his hand had burned very badly and a few minutes more, you could've seen through the hand. Bobby relised the guy and he hung from the chains.

"Your turn, Brown." I said to him and he smiled at me. I threw the water against his face and he woke up.

"It'll take months or even years for her to recover, do you know that?" Bobby asked him and took a knife from his pocket. It was the same knife he had used to cut Stephanie. He recognized it too and his breathing became more labored. I stepped in front of him and took his leg in my hands. He struggled but I held my grip on it. Bobby rested the knife on his ankle and sighed.

"This'll only hurt for the rest of your very short life." he said and cut the foot off.

His screams became mixed with his crying. The lonely foot was on the ground, laying against the empty water bowl. As he passed out Bobby took a dirty bandage out of his pocket and bandaged the foot. "Hopefully it's going to get infected."

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	15. Chapter 15

**Here's chapter 15!**

**I think I'll write like 2-3 more chapters and then end this one. Again some raw stuff at the end, so be careful :)**

**I love you guys and your reviews (I'm such a slut...) :)**

**Not mine, not makin' money**

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Tank POV

I had been watching the tapes of our guys "befriending" Pierre in the basement numerous times. I hadn't felt sick or disgusted at all, in fact I noticed that I always had a smile on my face when I watched them. You don't mess with our Bomber and go unpunished. Today it was my turn. Then after me Ranger would come down and finish this mess. Tomorrow morning at 10.45 their flight would take off.

I sat in my office, watching the tape of Lester and Pierre. I knew he would come up with something extra painful, he had grown very near to Steph. I leaned back on my chair ans sighed. Soon this would be over and everything would be normal again. If things around here ever would be normal. I threw my feet on the desk and closed my eyes. Steph had been working long today. She had come in about 7 and she was still here now as the clock struck 3. She had day by day increased the hours she worked and every time I saw here she was more than pleased. Yesterday she had her crutches taken of, and only a light bandage wrapped her feet. She was still quite wobbly after the long weeks of not using her legs at all. She walked around holding on to anyone who follows her around. Today as Ranger was in town, arranging the vacation, she leaned on me or Lester. I had helped her to the kitchen and so on. Lester had jumped in at noon as I had some meetings to attend too. The hours I had sat bored out of my mind in the office made me tired.

I must have dozed off, because I jumped to the sound of the office door opening. I threw my legs down, in case it was Ranger. Instead Steph walked in holding on to Lester's arm, laughing like a maniac. Lester was laughing too and helped her to the seat across me. As soon as she let go Lester sat on the sofa and rubbed his hand.

"Man, you got some grip there. I hope it's not as tough somewhere else though. On second thought, I do like when the woman.."

"Santos!" I barked and Steph blushed but laughed anyways. I seem to forget how small she really is every time she's away. She seamed to drown in the chair.

"What's up?" I asked her and she leaned back on the chair, putting her legs on the desk. I could see that under the socks she wore there was a bandage. The feet looked clumsy.

"Nothing much. We went to TastyCakes and visited the office. Have you heard from Ranger?" she asked and I knew that she wanted to know where they were heading as Ranger was keeping it a secret. I smiled.

"You know that I can't tell you where you're going."

"But it's not fair, everybody except for me knows." she whined.

"Life ain't fair sometimes." I said to her and watched as she stuck her tongue out at me. Mature.

"I'm not going anywhere from here if you don't tell me." she said to me and crossed her arms.

"Really?" I knew for a fact that if I wanted to, she would be sitting in the hall in three seconds.

"Yes. And Lester's going to help me."

I glanced at Lester and saw him sleeping on the couch.

"Well... When he wakes up,he's going to."

"You know that your acting like a six-year old?" I asked her.

"More like a seven-year old, six-year old's ain't this smart." she replied and I laughed at her manner.

"I can't tell you where you are going to."

"Tell me, or..." she said to me.

"Or what?" I asked and smiled.

"Or I'll call Lula." she said looking smug. She hung out too much with Lester.

I felt my face show the horror.

"You wouldn't!"

"Oh yes, I would. Now tell me!" she said leaning on the desk. I swallowed hard and opened my mouth but nothing came out. Which one was I more afraid of Lula or Ranger?

"Tell you what?" A voice said from the door way. I glanced and sighed. Ranger came to save me. I leaned back on the chair watching as Stephs whole body seemed to light up as he walked in to kiss her. I tried to look away but the love they radiated was so wonderful that I couldn't. Thankfully it was a short one, not one of those long ones where they press against each other moaning. Been there, seen that, not want to do it again.

"Hey, honey." she said to him and pulled him to sit on the armrest. He smiled and showed the love he held for her. She held her hand and looked at him smiling.

"Hey, querida. What does Tank have to tell you?" he looked curiously between me and her.

"Nothing." I quickly answered and prayed that she didn't tell him. I looked at her and she slightly nodded. We would talk about this later.

"Yeah, nothing." she said and brushed his cheek to distract him. It seemed to do the trick because his eyes became only focused on her and his eyes became darker. "Come on, let's go to seventh."

She stood up and dragged him with her. It seemed that Ranger needed the walking assistant not her. They walked out and left me alone.

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I looked at the watch and decided to grab a sandwich before heading down to the cells. I slowly walked to the kitchen and took one without looking what it was. There was no one in the room, it was that time that half of the guys had started an hour ago so no one was taking a break. The rest of them was either home, gym or down at the cells. This was going to end today, so everybody wanted one last punch (or a few). I ate the sandwich, not quite tasting it, leaning on the counter top. I washed it down with water and exited the kitchen and walked towards the elevator. I sighed as the doors closed. Soon, soon.

The corridor down in the basement was empty. My steps echoed from the cold, hard walls. I turned the corner and saw that almost the whole building was standing outside his cell. They were all looking and cheering for who ever was in the room. I pushed my way to the front and saw that Lester was hitting him and that Hal was writing something on a piece of paper. I walked into the room and they stopped for a mere second.

"Then there was Alicé..." Pierre muttered from the floor. Hal wrote it down and looked at me. Lester hit him again.

"We're getting a list of the women he hurt." Hal explained to me and looked at the list. "There's now 22 names on the list."

22 names? That was shocking. I thought there was not more than ten. My anger boiled over and I moved Lester out of the way.

The man in front of me was a sad excuse for life. His foot was cut of and I bet he had broken bones. There was burn scars all over him and his eyes were swollen shut. Hard to believe that this was the same man that we had arrested a few weeks ago.

"Are there any more woman?" I asked him and my voice showed the loathing I felt for him.

"No. That bitch from upstairs was the last one."

Before he knew it I had hit him so hard that I felt that his jaw broke. He gasped for air and spit out some blood. I shook my hand.

"Now, let's get to business." I said and walked over to the table. I took the knife that was there and walked back to the bastard. The blade shone brightly in the light from the room and reflected the light all over the room.

"Any last words for me? You know, at the end of my time you'll be begging to be killed but I'll leave that to Ranger who'll drop by later tonight. He's mad about Stephanie you know?" I said and cut his right thumb away. He screamed and I tossed the thumb in the trash bin they had brought there.

"He's promised to make you beg to your mother and to God, and neither will come to your rescue." I continued and cut his index finger. He screams were louder and he slumped against the chains.

"Nobody touches his girl." Off with the middle finger. I thought I was going deaf. He seemed to be drifting unconscious. Hal threw water at him and for a moment he woke up.

"It was a bad move from you." Bye bye ring finger.

"Hope you burn in hell forever." I said and cut the last finger of. He lost consciousness and I threw the knife in the bin. I walked to a sink and washed my hands, the water turned red.

"Keep him alive for now. Ranger will drop by in a few hours after Steph falls asleep."

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**Reviews? Good or bad?**


	16. Chapter 16

**Here's chapter 16 for you all!**

**This is going to be the second to last chapter on this story but I have plans for a sequel. :)**

**Thanks for the reviews, love them (and you). I love to wake up to a lot of lovely reviews! (It's the time difference)**

**Not mine, not making money (I mean, for this? C'mon..)**

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_Ranger PoV_

I laid there in the bed holding my babe for a long time. She fit perfectly in my arms and her chest moved slowly as she breathed. She was sound asleep, had been now for nearly a half an hour, silently breathing as the peaceful world of dreams took her with it. I, on the other hand was feeling like somebody was sitting on my chest. I didn't want to leave her alone in the huge bed by her self and yet I knew that I had to finish this.. ordeal. She stirred in her sleep and her hands moved to hold mine as they rested on her stomach. It was as if she knew what would happen next and wanted to hold me there with her. I sighed silently and hugged her tightly against me. Then slowly I pulled away from the tangle of sheets, softly murmuring in Spanish to sooth her. That seemed to do the trick as she settled back on the bed. I tucked my pillow and covers so that she would believe that somebody was sleeping behind her. Then I stood up and watched the angel sleeping in my bed, wearing my shirt and using my shower gel. With a heavy heart I pulled away from her, got dressed and headed downstairs.

The elevator ride seemed to last at least an eternity and when it finally stopped in the basement I felt like I couldn't breath. My only thought was that I needed to get back to my babe and rushed through the corridor, reached the door and opened it. I walked into the badly lit room and looked at the mess on the floor. He was barely breathing and blood was every where.

As I stood there the need of be with my babe become so bad that I almost turned around and ran to seventh. I reached for the gun, took aim and shot him. Not really what I had in mind but the pull towards the elevator was to strong for me to resist. I left the gun on the table, the guys would worry about that soon, and ran for the elevator.

The ride to seventh took longer than the ride down and I had to remind myself to be quiet as she was asleep. I slowly opened the door and tiptoed to the bedroom. She was exactly like I had left her, softly breathing in the scent of the sheets. I undressed and slowly slid under the covers to replace the pillow and covers. I pulled her slowly but strongly against my chest and felt like I could breath again. I tucked my face in her curls and inhaled her sweet scent. I began to drift to sleep and there in the warm bed with her in my arms it felt like time had stopped. I was finally home.

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_Stephanie POV_

I felt warm. The covers were tightly around us and he was pressed against my back, holding me tightly closer to him. I reached to rest my hand on his. I sighed happily, this was the happily ever after I always dreamed of. Ranger was still asleep, breathing softly against my shoulder, making the small hairs move. I softly turned around so that I was facing him and watched him sleep. His features were softer, not hard like they were when he was working. The hair hung loosely across his forehead and his lips were parted as he slept on. I smiled at the sight in front of me, at the man of my dreams who was here with me.

I leaned in and kissed the top of his nose, making him murmur something and pull me closer to him. I pressed a kiss on his shoulder, then on his neck and collarbone. His hands moved to stroke my hair.

"Good morning." he murmured to me with a deep voice from the sleep.

"Morning." I answered and rested my hands against his chest. I was happy with just laying there with him. He seemed to think that too, because he kissed the top of my head, hugging me closer, if that was possible.

"I'm so glad that you are here with me." he murmured in my hair.

"I'm glad of that too." I said and kissed his collarbone.

There we laid there for eternity until I had to use the bathroom. When I was finished, he was sitting on the bed in his boxers waiting for me. As I closed the door he took my hand and led me to the kitchen where Ella had made us breakfast. It was fruit and an omelet. After we ate it, we got dressed. Ranger had said that we were leaving soon and that there was a flight to catch. I decided to dress in comfortable clothes which still looked good on me. I wore a pair of loosely fitted pants and a blue t-shirt. Ranger wore a pair of black cargo pants but for a change a white t-shirt. He took our bags in his hand and offered me the other. I gladly took it and we headed down for the garage. He loaded the bags in the Porsche and drove to the airport. I still didn't know where we were heading and he still refused to say anything. He parked at the airport and led my way to the check in area.

After we gone through the security we had coffee in a small cafeteria. I now knew that we were heading for Sucre but I didn't know where that was. Our flight was announced and we boarded. We sat in the back of the airplane, on the last row. I sat by the window and Ranger by the corridor watching the other passengers board the plane. I took his hand and smiled at him.

I doced of after the take off and Ranger held me always. The flight was long and I was happy to take the extra rest. We ate on the plane and talked about pretty much everything. When we landed I thought we were heading for the exit. I noticed now that we were in Bolivia. But Ranger said that we had another flight to take. He led me though the security again and into a small plane that lift of moments after we arrived. This flight was shorter. I had nearly gotten comfortable as he announced that we would land soon. Puzzled about where we were heading, I clung onto him like a lost puppy.

We got into a black SUV waiting for us outside the airport. A Latin-American man was driving and Ranger talked to him in Spanish, thus making it impossible to understand what they were saying. I vowed to myself that I would start to take Spanish lesions so that I could understand what he says about me. Ranger sat with me in the back and we were driven through the city, out in the "wild". The views were fantastic and the sun was shining. It was warm and sunny with out being to much.

After an about 30 minute drive we drove over a huge bridge, then exited to a small road leading to a small lake. Ranger was smiling at my confused expression and squeezed my hand. The car stopped outside a small cottage by the lake. There was a huge beach, filled with turquoise water and white sand. The cottage was made out of wood and seemed to bee quite small. There was a small yard, with flowers and bushes. This was heaven.

WE stepped outside the car and Ranger took our bags. I inhaled the sweet scent of the flowers and the warm summer air. Then the driver left, leaving us at the cottage. Ranger too my hand and led me to the a small terrace outside the cottage, overlooking the lake.

"Welcome to Isla del Sol" he said to me and smiled.

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**Reviews? I know someones going to be disappointed with Ranger dealing with Pierre, but I wanted to show how much Stephanie's changed him. Next chapter some happiness at the Isla del Sol :)  
**


	17. Chapter 17

**Here's chapter 17, the final one in this story :(**

**Also, please be kind on me as this is my first shot in (trying to)writing smut. Like _EVER_  
**

**I have a sequel in my mind, it's on the "possible" list. I'll have to think about that, as I have soooo many other ideas. What do you think?**

**Thank you so much for the reviews, for all of them, and thank you for following this fic :) I love you all.**

**Not mine, not making money**

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_Steph POV_

Isla del Sol was indeed a sunny place. We had unpacked and I had sat down on the lawn, tanning and watching Ranger fix the roof. He had taken his shirt of, the pure muscles bulging in the heat of the sun. I laid there, admiring the view of him and the beauty of the environment. The suns light made the trees glow, the grass was greener, the flowers scent filled me and the birds sang about the wonders of life. I sighed, satisfied with my life. Who would have known that one trip to the city of love would change my life so. Leaving Joe finally behind me, Ranger here with me and oh, the love.

It was something that I had never felt before. It was an overpowering feeling, always on top of everything, hiding the rest of the feelings. I hadn't felt this with Dickie or Joe, just with Ranger. I knew he was the only one for me now.

I must have dozed of on the lawn, because it was chilly when I woke up. The scent of Bvlgari and warmth of him made me smile. My back was pressed against his front. We laid there for hours. As the suns last rays hit us, we stood up and walked into the little red cottage. There was only one separate room, the bedroom. The kitchen and living room were connected, furnished with a huge couch and a dining room table with chairs. A fireplace was opposite of the couch. Two windows were in the room, on opposite walls, making the light flow in perfectly. There was a little home made rug on the floor. The kitchen cupboards were painted with a light brown shade and it matched the couch fabric color.

A small door led to the bedroom. There was a little cupboard and king sized bed with comfortable looking sheets and small blue pillows were stacked against the headboard. A door led through to the bathroom, a luxury thing out in the woods. A bathtub and shower was on opposite walls, the toilet and sink in the middle. The bathtub was facing the lake. On the wall looking out on the lake was a huge window so you could look at the view while taking a bath. Luckily there was a set of curtains for privacy. The tiles were in different shades of white and light blue. White fluffy towels hung on hooks beside the door. A mirror was above the sink. Everything looked clean and home-y.

Ranger and I were sitting on the couch looking at the fireplace that night. It was rather chilly outside so we enjoyed the inside instead. I was curled against him and he was playing with my hair. I had closed my eyes, enjoying the feeling of him beside me, touching me, loving me. There was no need for talking, we were comfortable in the silence. The scent of bvlgari mixed with the scent of freshly made coffee coming from the cups on the little table in front of the couch.

Before I could fall asleep he carried me to the bedroom and stripped me from all of my clothes. The feeling was extremely sensual and it only got better when he took a small bottle of massaging oil in his hand and flipped me over so I was laying on my stomach. He massaged my neck, shoulders and back, then carefully massaging my butt, caressing it making me moan into the pillow. The feeling of his warm hands on me was almost to much. The sound of my moan made him continue his voyage. He oiled my thighs, calves and feet. The feeling was pure satisfaction, the long trip had made me tired and tense. He relaxed me this way.

He turned me over and started to make his way back up, feet, then thighs, abdomen and finally my breast. He massaged every bit as carefully as ever, taking his time to admire my body. His touch was like a drug to me, I couldn't go with out it. My nipples hardened as he slightly massaged them, rubbing and flicking on them. A slight moan escaped my lips and I could see that his eyes turned darker. He lowered his mouth on my breast, suckling and licking it making me arch my back. The other hand mimicked his actions on the other breast, a moment later changing it. I threw my head back, eyes almost rolling back. I felt an orgasm build up, the feeling intensify with every second and he hadn't even reached ground zero yet. Then as he bit down on my nipple I came hard, screaming his name over and over again like he was a god. Which he kinda was.

"Te amo" he whispered in my ear as he traced small kisses on my face, brining me down from my heaven. Feather like kissed were placed on my cheeks, forehead, nose, neck collarbones, then filally on my lips. The kiss deepened and made me wet all again. His tounge traced my lips, sucked on my tongue and slighlty bit down on my lower lip.

"I love you too." I murmured as he continued down my neck. I braided my fingers through his hair, guiding him to the right spots even though he really didn't need my help. He placed a trail of kisses down from my lips to my inner thighs. I was already so wet, soaking every thing and he noticed that too.

"I love it when you are so wet for me querida. " he whispered and licked my juices in one big lick. "You taste so good too."

His words made me wetter if possible and he buried his head into my folds, skillfully licking, sucking and nibbling. His tongue circled around my clit, avoiding it making me thrash around, wanting for him make me come. He slid two fingers inside me, slowly pumping them. I thrashed my hips up, an orgasm building with huge force and speed.

"Please Carlos, please make me come." I begged him, desperately holding onto the sheets, thrashing around, wanting some sort of relief. His fingers started to move faster, drawing me to the edge. He inserted a third finger and at the same time bit down on my clit. My walls clamped around his fingers as I fell over the edge so hard, screaming his name again. He pumped a few more times and then withdrew his fingers. Bringing them to his mouth licking them clean. That image alone would make me come.

"Dios how good you taste like" he said and I leaned agaist him and kissed him, tasting my self in his mouth. Even after two maginficent orgasms I was wet again. I kissed him just below the ear.

"I want to feel you inside me, Carlos. I want you to fuck me until I have no idea who I am. Fuck me Carlos, fuck me."

He growled at me and instantly I was pressed underneath him, his hands roaming my body. I let my hand's to do the same, I traced the muscles on his abdomen and back, all the way down. He was rock hard, pulsating underneath my hand. He positioned himself at my entrance and with one hard thrust he was inside me, filling me to my brim. I gasped at the feeling, arched my back and moaned. Slowly he pulled back, so that he was almost out again, then thrusted all the way back again.

"Harder, faster!" I moaned to him, hands on him urging him to go faster. Instantly the thrust became faster, he thrusted in and out making me scream in pleasure. The familiar feeling of an orgasm building filled me and my walls started to clench around him. With every thrust I wa nearing the edge and then he leaned in with his hand and rubbed my sensitive spot. The orgasm ripped through me, screams and moans of his name filled the room. With one last thrust he came too and fell on the bed, breathing hard. He rolled onto his back, pulling me on top of him. I was a drooling mess as I laid there. I fell asleep, totally satisfied, listening to his heart beat.

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_Stephanie POV_

We woke up several times that night to continue where we had left it. Then the morning came and we patted to the kitchen to eat breakfast, throwing on just a t-shirt and panties/boxers. I made us some sandwiches as he made the coffee.

"Let's take these out on the 's nice outside" Carlos suggested and I agreed. The sun was barely up and it was still kinda chilly but I appreciated that after the hot night. The birds were singing like it was the last day of their life. The lake was calm, just some small waves brushed ashore. There was a small platform and on it two chairs and s small table. We sat there admiring the nature and each other. Carlos looked like he had to say something. I let him take his time and sipped on the coffee.

"I want to say something but you must promise not to laugh or it'll break my heart." he finally said and I was puzzled.

"From that time at Vinnie's where I saw you I knew you were the one. I fell in love with you and ever day since that I had fallen if possible even more in love with you. You took my heart that day and made me, well... human again. It felt like I could see again, that you were like oxygen to me. I couldn't be without you and I can't be without you. That's why I want to ask you Stephanie Plum, will you marry me and make me the most happies man in the whole world?"

I sat there compleately shocked. for a moment but then I smiled.

"Of course I will, Carlos. I love you so much."

He smiled the biggest smile ever and leaned in and kissed me.

"I love you too, Mrs Manoso."

I liked the way that sounded.

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**Reviews? Final words? :)**


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